Exposure
by Stuffwell359
Summary: Chase is treating Marshall differently. Better than the rest of the pups. The dally can't figure out why, and is desperate to find out what's making the shepherd to give him the special treatment. Little does he know that the secret will be much more than he imagined... MarshallxChase yaoi and lemon
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Welcome to my first story on here, and this is my first Paw Patrol fanfic. Hope you guys enjoy! ^~^**

Exposure

Chapter 1

 **Marshall's POV**

I hear a faint voice echoing outside. My ears twitch. I have been awakened. Tuning into the noise outside the pup house, I recognize that it's a megaphone. Chase's, to be exact, and he's going around waking all the pups up from their peaceful slumber early in the morning as usual. He's not exactly gentle with it, either, often times the german shepherd yells right in your ear or just repeats the same line over and over till you show symptoms of waking up from the "Don't-Wake-Me-Up" disease. And yes, I made that up just now, but it fits the situation, because almost none of us are early risers other than him. Our leader. Perking up a bit, the sounds of foot paws against concrete grab my attention. It's time. I don't want to get up, and since I'm already somewhat awake, the megaphone blaring in my ears doesn't seem too evil this morning at least.

 _Knock knock._ There it is. First it's a light rapping on the door with his paw, and then it's the ever-so-loud megaphone that haunts every pups' dreams and nightmares. A few seconds pass. Wait, could it be, Chase the police pup not using his megaphone for the first time in Paw Patrol history? With me of all pups… oh boy, I must be really special. My paw floats up to reach for the button-'cause I'm still groggy and exhausted-to unlock the door to my pup house for him. The sound of his foot paws lightly clanging against the metal of the pup house ring in my ears, but nothing else, my eyes still closed, waiting for a possible sound ambush of abnormal proportions. His snout brushes against my own instead, and the fuzzy feeling it provides creates a warmness in my cheeks. This opposed to a hard slap in the ears is much preferable, and I open my eyes without a moment's hesitation, offering the german shepherd a grateful smile in return for his kindness.

"Mornin' Chase…" I mutter, still quite out of it, but trying to muster the strength to show my appreciation.

"Good morning, Marshall. Get up as soon as you can. Time for morning yoga." The shepherd offers me another smile and waltzes out of my pup house. No megaphone invasion included with this day's sunrise. I still can't get over it; Chase had chosen me to experiment on not waking us up with his irksome speaker. Yawning and stretching, I shake my body to jolt it awake then trot out of my pup house. I squint my eyes. The sun is rising and it's blinding. Where are some sunglasses when I need them? My blue eyes spot Chase waiting for me to start yoga; all the pups having already woken up and gotten their mats in place on the grass. I dash up to the grass and grab a red mat from our toy box nearby and set it next to Zuma's, who is at the end of the line of pups. I took that honor away from him, though. I chuckle to myself, and watch Chase take his place in front of us, preparing to lead us in yoga. He's got his head up in the air, as if he were the general of an army of pups, looking down on us like we were his troops. Hopefully we don't get any military drills.

The german shepherd begins with the downward dog pose, having us hold it for a minute. Then, he commands that we do the warrior pose, holding that one is tougher. I glance at the other pup's, nearly all of them are falling over, except Zuma who knows how to balance himself well since he windsurfs. I watch Chase, his deadpan expression penetrating through our eyeballs all the way down to the fur on our coats. He notices me eyeing him, and he breaks this serious aura around him to smile at me, _only at me_. I furrow my brows at him, hopefully sending the message that I don't comprehend this treatment, and he only chuckles to himself and shakes his head. We go through more poses, some pups doing well and some not so well, but at the end, just for fun, Chase has us do a tailspin. Like Pup Pup Boogie and any other time I try to do that move, I fail, and I mess up hard, usually involving knocking into somebody or an object. This time around, I swear, doing the move again and watching as my vision blurred I knew I was going to crash into one of the pups. It's time for Russian Roulette to decide who's the next target. After a few seconds I feel my tail swiveling off the mat and onto the grass, how it keeps spinning on the green blades is beyond me, but this curiosity is killing me. A few more seconds and… _bam_! I crash into somebody, but I don't know who, I wasn't concentrating on the sound of their yip.

Brown and tan fur, brown eyes, and a hint of blue on the collar. Yeah, this is a no-brainer: Chase. The shepherd's protests and groans bring me back to reality.

"Marshall... " the shepherd moans. "Maybe I shouldn't have offered that move in the first place."

"Ya think?" I say, gazing at him with a cheeky grin and a laugh. At least he chuckles along with me, though. I break the mood with a question. "Hey, Chase, why did you wake me up differently than all the other pups this morning?"

The shepherd recovers from the incident and tilts his head. "Huh?" His eyes widen for a moment. "Oh! Thaaaat. Yeah, that's a secret." Chase begins to walk toward the center of the group. "Alright, pups, Ryder should have breakfast for us soon, so sit tight till then. Dismissed."

I get up on all fours from the crash and think to myself, heh, he still acts like a military general. Oh, Chase, you never change. The pups head over to the toy box to fetch out some items they can use to play with until their morning meal. Zuma and Rocky head over to an open area in the clearing and play catch with a frisbee, and Rubble and Skye just play tug-o-war with one another using a multi-colored rope with knots on both ends. It wasn't the one Chase and I use, though. We've been best friends since I had joined the Paw Patrol, and the other tug rope in the box has been our favorite ever since. Off limits to every pup except us, of course.

Chase and I are left standing face-to-face with each other. "So, a secret, huh? Why's that?" I say, trying to loot some info out of the shepherd.

He smirks and blushes a light pink. "Heh. It's not going to be that easy, Marshall."

I frown, my floppy ears drooping slightly. "W-why? Why are you keeping a secret from me, of all pups?"

"Soon enough, Marshy. Soon enough." Chase lends me a soft smile and turns away. His pup-tag blinks and beeps.

"Chase, tell the other pups that breakfast is ready, okay?" Ryder says on the other end.

"Will do, Ryder."

That nickname… Marshy… I like it. I've never heard Chase call me that before. Huh.

"Hey Marshall, are you just so excited for breakfast that you can't stop grinning like an idiot or what?"

"Huh?" Chase is talking to me again. "Y-yeah, I'm pretty starving this morning."

Chase giggles. "Heheh, well… if you need some more food, we can, you know, share some of mine if you'd like..." The shepherd glances in the other direction drawing random patterns in the grass with his front paw.

"Thanks for the offer, but we'll see how I feel when I engulf all of my own food, first." I chuckle.

"Sure, sure. It's time to eat anyway, why don't you go head in first, since I know you hate being last."

"Alright, I'll gladly take that offer!" I rush down to the sliding glass doors of the Lookout. I hear the shepherd calling the other pups for breakfast behind me.

"Awu! Awu! Awoooo!" I'm howling and running through the entrance to the Lookout, excitement coursing through every muscle in my body propelling me forward, I fail to recognize just how fast I'm going. I skid to a halt once I reach the elevator, but I still slam into the cylindrical glass wall.

"Oof!" I yell out as I slide back down to the floor in a lying down position. I hear the other pups howling behind me. "I'm good!"

"Oh, Marshall, even though you were first you still found a way to crash into something!" Rubble shouts, laughing afterward. The pups and I join him in his laughter as they all enter the elevator. We shoot upward and go behind the Paw Patrol logo to switch into our uniforms. The only way I can explain it is that the moment the flash ends I'm wearing my firefighter outfit. I don't get it. I thought Ryder always said there's no such thing as ghosts, yet there's a supernatural thing occurring behind this logo every day. Needless to say, we arrive at the top and get into position.

"Paw Patrol ready for action, Ryder, sir!" Chase says.

Ryder stands there with a blank, confused expression. "Uhhh, pups, what are you doing? Your breakfast is downstairs."

They all glare at me like this was my fault. "What?" I ask with a nervous chuckle.

"Wyder told us breakfast was weady, but since you wan into the elevator, we all just went along with it," Zuma says, and then his stomach rumbles. He sighs. "Still your fault…"

Rubble's tummy starts to growl as well, and that's when the bulldog bolts back to the elevator, opting for food rather than mission. The other pups follow suit, too, and I'm last to the elevator yet again. Once it stops at the first floor, they all rush toward their respective bowls. Chase waits for me to arrive at my red bowl with a white ladder stretched around the exterior. He glances at me and smiles, and I smile back, silently thanking him for waiting for me. We both begin to dig into our pup kibble. I kind of lied back there when I said I was starving, but I have to at least eat fast to make it look like I am super starving to the shepherd. My food is gone in a few minutes flat, but the other pups aren't too far behind. Maybe they, too, are trying to get their revenge on me by pretending to be famished. What if they really were…? Nah, no use thinking about that now. Chase notices my bowl has been licked clean, and he nudges me to grab my attention.

"Hm?" I mumble with my mouth still full of food.

He points with his muzzle toward his bowl, a little less than half the food still scattered in there.

I shake my head, swallow the mashed up bite. "Uh, no thank you, Chase. I'm kinda stuffed now, but I really appreciate the offer." I give him a soft smile.

"Alright, but the offer is here whenever you need it next time." The shepherd continues eating.

After breakfast, Ryder calls us on all of our pup-tags. "Paw Patrol, to the Lookout!"

I can hear the pups groan as they waddle back into the elevator, their stomachs full and slowing them down. I realize this may be my chance to be first, and I begin to charge for the elevator but can't. My stomach won't let me. It gurgles and roars, causing pain to erupt in my abdomen, and I plop to the floor, unable to move. I protest with low grumbles and moans. Chase is the first pup to walk out of the elevator in concern for my safety. Figures. Not that I don't appreciate his help, but it just further drives the point home that he has a secret that involves him treating me extra nice. The rest of the Paw Patrol sits in the elevator, muttering about me I'm sure.

"Does it hurt, Marshy?" The shepherd asks, his muzzle is dangerously close to my own, and I'm defenseless to do anything about it. Not that it matters, since it kind of makes me feel funny. I don't quite understand the feeling. Warm, hot, embarrassed. All this within my cheeks. Chase chuckles, but I don't know why. "Heheh, let me help you get to the elevator, Marshall."

No nickname this time. Dang, I like it. "I can do it myself…" I make an attempt to get back up to all fours and fail, falling back down. "Maybe not… heheh."

"Don't worry, Marshy, I got you." There we go: back with the nickname. Heck yeah. Chase scooches around to my backside and pushes me forward with his snout. His nose is sticking up against my tailhole. I yelp a bit as I feel his cool nose touch my exposed rear, but I regain my composure fast. The feeling is back in my cheeks again, and this time I think I'm starting to understand what's causing it. Inch by inch, the shepherd slides me across the floor toward the elevator. Luckily, I wasn't too far away. The elevator goes up, and the Paw Patrol goes through the line up for the second time this morning.

Ryder touches a button on his pup pad. The monitor lights up with a cute animation. "Sorry for making you work after breakfast, pups, but we have to act fast. Danny dared Alex if he could climb higher than he can, and now both of them have gotten stuck in a tree near Mr. Porter's. Danny told me he fell down and hurt his leg, and now Alex is stuck hanging from the tree. For this mission I'll need… Marshall. I'll need you to use your X-Ray screen to check if Danny has any broken bones, and then treat his wounds if necessary."

I sit up straight, putting a firm paw down. "I'm ready for a ruff, ruff rescue!"

Ryder continues, "I'll also need… Chase. Your net here will be crucial to catch Alex if he falls."

"Chase is on the case!" the shepherd shouts.

"Alright, the rest of you pups stay here and rest up; I overheard that your stomachs have been bugging you after that quick breakfast. Alright! Paw Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder slides down his pole to his ATV; Chase and I head down the slide to our vehicles. We ride out to Mr. Porter's restaurant and immediately notice the dire situation at hand. Danny is wincing and groaning in pain, and Alex is literally holding on for dear life from a tree branch. With my sirens blaring, I drive up to the scene as close as possible, and then I step out of my fire truck, turning off the sirens as I do so. Chase does the same. I dash out to Danny, who's still yelping in agony, and I whip out my X-ray screen. "Awu! Awu! X-ray screen!" My pup pack opens up to reveal the small tablet that will allow me to scan for broken bones. It stretches out in front of me using a retractable bending arm, and I begin the search for any injuries. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I rush through the upper half because I know exactly where the pain is coming from. Don't do that at home, kids. Just as I thought, Danny's leg is the problem, but at least it isn't broken. "Only a sprain," I say to him with a sigh of relief.

He wipes sweat from his forehead. "Phew, thanks Marshall."

"Stay here, I'll get you patched up in a jiffy!" I say. "Arf! Bandages!" The wraps pop out of my pup pack in a tight roll right in front of me. I catch them in my mouth and begin to apply them to Danny's leg.

"Wait a minute, you told me to stay here, but I can't really move…" Danny mumbles as I finish up the process.

I chuckle with the bandage roll still clenched in my teeth. Once I finish wrapping, I reply, "That was a joke, Danny, you're supposed to laugh at those, you know."

He laughs. "Oh, right. Yeah, my bad."

I glance at Chase: he's just watching me do my work, but that worries me. I furrow my brows at him, making a gesture up at Alex. And then I notice that the boy is literally about to fall! Why didn't I hear his protests? Why wasn't Chase watching over him like he was told to do?

"Chase! Your net!" I yell as my heart beats fast with fear.

He looks dumbfounded but responds by whipping around to see Alex's fingers nearly losing their grip on the branch. "Rarf! Net!" The shepherd's net launcher shoots out of his pup pack and gets into position. Chase aims and fires just as Alex falls, catching him just in time. "Phew," he says, "that was close, huh, Marshy?"

I shake my head in disapproval of his actions, despite how hard that is when he uses that nickname. "Yeah," I say, my tone calmer and even. Now is not the time to get angry. I have to act professional on a mission. "Why were you watching me instead of doing your job?"

"Uh… I, uh…" the shepherd fails to respond, not looking at me because his cheeks had lit up red, and both Alex and Danny, wanting to thank us for being rescued, give each other awkward glances.

I sigh. "Alright. Danny, Alex," I give the two of them a head nod, "don't do this again. Climbing trees isn't safe, nor are dares that you don't think you can do. Don't let your pride get in the way of your safety. That's all." I turn around and head back to my fire truck. Chase looks at me like I'm insane, but I glance back and huff, not even caring. I may not want to get flustered on the job, but I have the right to be angry. Their lives were in danger, and Chase failed to do his job. The german shepherd nods to Alex and Danny, and then he, too, heads over to his police vehicle.

"Nice work pups!" Ryder says, not having moved from his ATV since the rescue. That's another thing, why didn't he come help or alert Chase? Maybe he was playing on that stupid pup pad of his… I can't blame him, though, that tablet really has some addicting games on it.

"Thanks, Ryder," we both reply, and then the three of us report back to the Lookout. The other pups weren't doing much in particular when we came back, just watching some tv with Apollo the Super Pup echoing throughout the first floor. Chase and I rush over to join them on some bean bags, but what had happened today during the mission still irks me, and I really want to understand why the shepherd wasn't doing his job as usual. Luckily, one pup started the conversation for me.

"Hey guys, how was the mission?" Rocky asks, sitting up from his lying position on a green bean bag near the far end of pups.

With the two of us lying down on one blue bean bag, since all the rest are taken, we're right next to the mixed breed. "It almost didn't go so well."

Chase glanced at me, worry painted on his expression. "B-but it did go well in the end, though," he turns back to the mixed breed, "so there's nothing to worry about, Rocky!" He chuckles, darting his eyes around a couple times and looking quite uncomfortable. Normally, he's serious to the core, but sometimes he slips up a bit and reveals his immaturity or playful side.

Rocky doesn't buy it. "Oooookay~ obviously something went wrong. Marshall, wanna fill me in?" He glances over to me, and I nod in response.

"Oh, something went wrong, alright. Chase wasn't focused and if I hadn't stepped in, it would've caused Alex to possibly get seriously injured."

The mixed breed gasps, as do the other pups, their attention now averted to us rather than Apollo. "Woah," Rocky says, his jaw nearly dropping to his green bean bag, "Chase, you're never not focused during missions. Is something up?"

"No. I almost had a mishap during the mission, but I was able to handle it."

"With my help," I add.

Rocky tilts his head. "What was the mishap?"

Chase looks away. "Well, I wasn't paying attention, and Alex was going to fall from a tree. I didn't quite have my net ready yet."

"'Cause you were staring at me while I was working, like I was a god or something."

The shepherd clears his throat. "Uh, yeah, I guess I was doing that." He refuses to make eye contact with either of us.

Rocky smirks. "I see what's going on here…"

Chase's eyes widen. Blush heats his muzzle. "I-I don't think you do."

I finally realize it: why he's been staring at me and treating me differently.

"Wanna tell Marshall something, Chase?" Rocky teases, his eyes squinting and eye brows wiggling up and down.

"N-no… I don't." The shepherd watches me, and my eyes, attempting to judge my reaction. He wants to see if I know.

My heart is beating. I don't know how I feel about this yet, but I give Chase a soft smile. "I've been dying to know why you've been treating me differently since this morning. It was so sudden: it drove me nuts."

"I see…" The shepherd is blushing hard now, still avoiding eye contact, and all the other pups were still tuned into this conversation. "I don't like all this pressure…"

I await his reply, smiling at him and wagging my tail, communicating to him that I'm excited to hear his news no matter what it is.

Chase takes a deep breath in, and then he lets it out, although a little shaky. "I… I like you, Marshy!" He winces in fear, turning away from me and cowering.

Despite my preparation for such a proposal, I'm still shocked, and this reflects in my immediate hesitation in responding. Unable to bear the silence and awkward tension, the shepherd hops off the bean bag and runs out of the double doors of the Lookout. "W-wait! Chase!" I call out, a desire to answer back to him still burning within my fast beating heart. I need to tell him how I feel.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you for the nice comments, votes, and reads guys! I appreciate every, single, one of them. Please enjoy the next installment of... EXPOSURE: CHAPTER 2 EDITION! Preorder now while supplies last! :P**

Exposure

Chapter 2

Marshall's POV

I chase after Chase-haha, get it?-outside the Lookout. Hearing him whimper and whine while running, I know he must be really hurt over my inability to answer. I can't say this "running after him" thing is helping much with the shock, though. As I dash out to our large circular clearing, I have to squint with the late afternoon sunset glazing orange over my vision. A faint, blurry image of Chase running toward his pup house is still visible to me. Using this as a guide, I take off toward the blue abode and hope I can talk to him. When I arrive, he had already gone inside, and I rap on the metal door repeatedly at least ten times. "Chase...! Chase! Listen, I didn't have enough time to respond! Please open the door!" I imagine the shepherd behind the door, lying down right in front of it, whimpering, and wanting to open the door but is still hesitant.

"I already know your answer! You took too long!" the shepherd responds, his voice muffled by the metal door between us.

"Chase, I was shocked to hear that you liked me, in fact, I'm still shocked! But I'd like to take the time to tell you my answer right now."

"Alright... fine."

"To be honest, I'm not sure about my feelings toward you. It's like my heart is telling me yes, and my brain is telling me no. There are so many things I'm uncertain about if we become boyfriends, and I just don't know what to think about it. I've blushed because of you and admired you before, but I never really knew if I liked you that way 'cause I, just now, am starting to realize what these feelings mean."

"So... you like me, but just don't know what liking me feels like?"

I shrug. "I guess? I'm not really sure what I'm saying, myself, here." I let out a nervous laugh. "But, one thing's for sure, I definitely know something is in here. I just don't quite know if it's love or not yet."

There's silence for a bit, but then the shepherd replies, "Well, then... let's do a test. One week."

I tilt my head. "Huh?"

"Be my boyfriend for one week, just to see how it feels, and if you don't like it, then we stop dating, but if you do, we keep going. How 'bout it?"

I stare at the wall, musing, and take a while to answer. Maybe ten seconds. "Okay, I think I can do that." I know he can't see me through the metal door, but I smile like Rubble does when he sees food. Big and wide. I feel... happy. A warm glow is encompassing my whole body, almost like a shiver down my spine, but it's pleasant this time around. This feels like an automatic smile that I can't pull back down. The metal door startles me as it slams upward. Chase rushes forward and tackles me, smothering me in kisses all across my face, tail wagging like a really fast metronome.

"Woah, woah, woah! Chase! Settle down!" My tail is wagging, too, and I'm giggling and laughing at the shepherd's romantic gesture.

Chase climbs off of me. "Heheh, sorry Marshy, I just got so excited that I couldn't stop myself." The shepherd leans back on his hind paws and glances away from me, but he still keeps eye contact.

I blush red and grin at the shepherd in a sheepish manner. "It's okay, I'm good."

"Well, it is now official. You and I are mates," Chase says, barely able to contain his excitement within his vocal cords.

"Oh my god, did Chase just say 'mates'?" Rocky asks, flabbergasted along with the other pups beside him.

"Huh?" I whip my head around to see the rest of the Paw Patrol staring at us. My cheeks heat up, and my eyes widen.

"Congwats, dudes," Zuma says with a smile.

There's that sheepish grin sneaking up on me again... along with more blushing. Great. "Heheh, thanks guys..."

Chase is standing next to me, a grin plastered on his muzzle, and he doesn't look ashamed at all. "That's right. We're mates now, well... for a week, that is."

"We heard," they all say in unison.

"How long have you been standing there eavesdropping on us?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow.

"Since the beginning, and I'm hungry," Rubble replies, and then his tummy growls. "Oh boy, I'm going to ask Ryder for some more food!" He runs off back inside the Lookout.

I sigh. "Oh. Next time, give us some privacy, okay?" The rest of the pups nod at my request. and follow Rubble back inside.

"Hey Marshy?"

I glance over at Chase. "What's up?"

"Let's go on a date tomorrow."

I whimper, sitting down and lowering my head. "I... I don't know, Chase."

Chase walks up to me, puts a paw on my own, and says, "Wasn't quite the reaction I was hoping for, but that's okay. What's there to worry about, Marshy?"

I can't look him in the eye. I let out a long sigh. "People. Inexperience. More people. Everyone will think we're weird."

Chase laughs, and I snap my head up with widened eyes in surprise. "W-what?" I say with a little more irritation than intended.

He shakes his head. "Nothing, it's just... we're talking dogs. The only dogs in Adventure Bay, and we talk. Am I repeating myself? I am, so what? Anyway, my point is, we're already weird, and people haven't looked at us strangely in a looong time. Relax a little, Marshy, it'll be okay."

My posture straightens at his reassuring words, but my ears droop. "Sure, you may be right, but I think this situation is a little bit different."

He shrugs. "Can't argue with that one, but it won't hurt to try. Come on, let's go on a date. It'll be my treat."

"Will it taste like a pup treat?" I ask, tilting my head with a cheeky grin.

Chase nuzzles the side of my muzzle. "Oh, Marshy, I love you..." He chuckles and turns around to head back into the Lookout. The shepherd walks about half the distance, and then he turns around, noticing that I haven't budged an inch. "You coming? The bean bag won't be warm enough with just me on it, ya know."

"You said you loved me..." I mutter.

He tilts his head, furrowing his brows. "Marshy?"

"O-oh, coming!" I shout back, running to catch up with him. I didn't hear a single word he said before 'Marshy', but I know it has to be something good. After all...

He's my mate now.

 **Day 1**

Our first date is today, I think to myself as I open my eyes. Chase and I had spent the rest of the day watching TV and playing in the clearing with the other pups. And now, inside my pup house, I am well rested and ready to go. After I stretch, I press the button to open the door, and then I step outside. Chase didn't wake me up today, but oddly enough, it's really early in the morning, so I guess my body is just programmed to get up early. In fact, I'm up earlier than the rest of the pups, except Chase of course. Wincing at the piercing gaze of the orange rising sun, I decide to search for Chase, and I spot him in the grass near a tree, just swaying on a swing. I always wonder what he does this early in the morning. Although, I thought it would be something more... productive, considering his personality. It's not weird to have a bit of time to yourself, though.

I sneak up on the shepherd, opting to surprise him with a romantic gesture. The swing is facing away from the Lookout, so Chase won't be able to see me coming if I'm "Quiet as a mouse". The grassy blades feel so prickly to the bottom of my foot paws as I traverse the clearing, slow and precautious, with my body low to the ground. I feel like I'm moving in slow-motion. Needless to say, while I'm doing this, I eye Chase on the swing, mindlessly humming to himself a tune while moving along with the gentle swaying wind. It ruffles my fur, flaps my ears, but I can't get distracted now. I'm literally almost behind my mate. If I had been around the other pups, this little game I'm playing wouldn't have been happening, and don't even get me started with what we'll be doing on our date today. I gulp. Makes me anxious just thinking about it.

I step on a squeaky tennis ball. It emits a high-pitched squeal, and i swear my heart skips a beat or just stops altogether. I can't tell. It's the least of my worries right now. The shepherd, unfortunately, yips and jumps off the swing, snapping around to growl at the supposed predator sneaking up on his warm, soft fur-covered flesh. But it's only me. I giggle and smile, opting to sit down on all fours, my rump being poked by the needles that are disguised as grass.

"Hiya, Chase."

He quits growling immediately and tilts his head in confusion. "Marshy? What are you doing up so early?"

"I dunno. My body must be used to it I guess." I chuckle and continue, "but i thought it'd be cute to try and sneak up on you."

He huffs and smiles at me, a glimmer in his brown eyes. "Oh, is that right? You wanted to sneak up on me? And do what exactly?"

"This!" I yell, pouncing on the shepherd. I pelt him with sloppy licks and kisses. I'm _really_ glad nobody's around.

He giggles and tries to shove me off of him, but not in a rude way, more like, oh, I don't know, a I-Want-You-To-Stop-So-I-Can-Do-It-To-You kind of manner. I really wish I knew how to describe those kinds of things. At least, this is what I hope he's trying to convey. The shepherd finally pushes me off of his body, and puts his on mine this time around. Smirking, he says, "I got you now!"

Just as I thought, he did want me to stop so he could do it. I like his version better. It's... for a lack of a more appropriate word, sexy. I chuckle in my head and prepare for whatever he has in store for me. Chase takes this opportunity to slow things down a bit, teasing me with easing his way down to my muzzle, making me wait. My hind paws fidget in anticipation; I let out a high-pitched prolonged squeal. "Ooooooh, Chase~ hurry it up already!"

The shepherd leans down dangerously close to my muzzle, and in a husky tone, whispers in my ear, "Heheh, I'm teasing you. _I'm_ in control, after all."

I gulp, my tail barely able to contain itself, since it's going so fast it could probably trim the grass. The shepherd moves over to gaze directly into my blue eyes and smirks. He dives in for a kiss, and I accept without hesitation, and let me just say, kissing as two dogs never felt weirder. This is my first kiss, as well, and so my form says it all. I'm not sure what I'm doing, swerving my head around when he does to the opposite side, and my lips move in such a manner that I can't describe. Like waves, they weave, curve, and flow with Chase's as we kiss repeatedly. Pretty soon, though, I realize I need air, and I break the kiss. The shepherd looks at me with furrowed brows, but I reassure him that I need air by communicating it through heavy pants. He nods, and allows me to breathe for a bit, but oddly enough, he, too, is desperate for air. I think he had wanted to go further, asphyxiating himself for me: now that, my friends, is love. Insane, really, but I'll take it.

After a short breather, he draws near to me once more, and I welcome his kiss with ease. This time, though, after a few normal smooches, the shepherd desires to gain access to my own mouth with his tongue. I know this, because I feel an object pushing against my clenched teeth. I open my eyes to see Chase with his open, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, probably signaling for me to open up. I'm kind of nervous, but I relax the tension from my body and let his tongue in. Immediately, it finds my own and dances with it, doing the tango, except his is the only one that knows the steps. I, on the other hand, do not know anything about the tango, and I portray this in my technique. Rough laps around his tongue. A wrestle occurs at times, due to my inability to go along with the flow. I slip up in the motion a few times and hit the edge of either his or my mouth. All in all, his slimy tongue against mine feels weird, almost borderline gross. But I am accepting of this, because he is my new mate, and I don't want to displease him. Besides, it's fun swirling our tongues in circles. We both need air again. He disconnects this time around, and I'm left yearning for more. Both of us are panting heavily again.

Chase breaks the silence of our breathing. "That... was amazing."

I nod. "It felt weird at first... but I quickly got used to it. How'd you... learn how to do that?"

"Heheh, you're not my first mate, Marshy."

My eyes widen, and I feel cheated for a second, but then the emotion fades. "Oh, well, at least I have a boyfriend with experience." I laugh.

"Yeah, it was Rocky."

No wonder he was so supportive... "For how long? And how did I not know about this?"

"Only for maybe... half a year or so? And we kept it a secret from everyone. We broke up because of that secretive part." The shepherd is frowning now, looking away from me.

I lean up and hug Chase, wrapping my paws around the nook of his neck. "Hey, no need to be sad, it's understandable why you'd want to keep it a secret. It's a scary thing. People's reactions."

He nods, slow and straight-faced, in response. "Yeah, people are scary, but you gotta remember, Marshy, that people in Adventure Bay probably don't care too much."

"Maybe... but we don't know all of the people in Adventure Bay, you know."

"I know, but we'll be okay, Marshall. I can assure you that we will. I'm a police pup. Anybody who hates or berates us will get a traffic cone in the face."

I chuckle. "Isn't that illegal, Mr. Police Pup?" I cock an eyebrow.

"Maybe~," he smirks, and then breaks out into a small fit of laughter soon after. "But seriously, I don't think I'd have to resort to that. The worst we'll get is stares."

My ears droop. "That's enough for me, though."

"We'll see how it goes today. Our date, I mean. I have a picnic lunch planned."

"Oh. Will it be a private picnic lunch?" I ask, my heart already beating fast again after that slightly intense make out session we had.

"I'll make it work," he replies with a smile, "now, the other pups are going to wake up soon for yoga, er, I mean, I'm going to wake them up for yoga." The shepherd has a mischievous smile on his muzzle. "So, we should probably look a little more... professional if you don't want to be embarrassed all the time."

"Oh, gotcha," I say, getting off of Chase and clearing my throat. I begin to trot over to the toy box to retrieve my mat. I turn around and see the shepherd barking his megaphone out, and I immediately know what's about to go down. Getting into position, I await the protests of the other pups.

Once all the pups were woken up, we all did some yoga for the morning, had breakfast, and then did training. After that intense work out, I'm panting heavy, and my legs are burning. That meal I had has already been sapped away of the energy it provides. All of us take a rest in the Lookout first floor lobby. I yawn, it's already afternoon, and I need a nap. My date with Chase is today. It can wait after I catch a few "Z's", though.

A half hour passes by, and my eye lids flutter open. I'm the only pup napping in the lobby now, all the rest are upstairs I'm guessing, since I can hear Pup Pup Boogie being played. I would like to join them, but I'm really hungry and want to go on that picnic Chase planned. Hopefully Chase is upstairs, too, I think to myself as I enter the elevator. The glass doors slide open, revealing the huge monitor on and with our favorite dance game playing. Right now, Zuma and Chase are duking it out on the paw pads. Their foot paws stomp in every direction at blazing fast speeds, and I notice that it's on Hard mode. Chase has been able to catch up to Zuma's level lately, and the lab has had to step up his game to keep his record from being crushed. I trot over to watch behind them, and the other pups say their greetings to me as I pass them and sit down. As I glance at the screen and back to the shepherd and lab, I notice Chase holding a slight lead over Zuma, but the song is almost over, and the match can change to anyone's favor any second.

"Go Chase!" I yell, hoping my support will help my mate win.

"Huh?" The shepherd whips his neck around and notices me. "Marshy?!" His attention quickly reverts back to the game, but the damage had been done: the fast pace of the song creates a discrepancy in his rhythm, and he's unable to get back into the groove. Zuma wins.

He jumps up in the air. "Yes! I won, dudes!" The lab turns to face the shepherd. "I was so scawed that I'd lose, Chase!"

"And you would've, too." Chase glances over at me, a slight scowl on his muzzle. "But, it's fine, there's always next time." The shepherd eyes me again. "Thanks for your support, Marshy, you had the right intent, at least."

I give him a cheesy grin. "Always glad to help, Chase!"

"I'm so glad to have you as my mate, Marshy..." The shepherd stares at me, a gentle smile and grateful eyes gazing at me.

I blush, look away. "Heheh, stop, Chase, you're embarrassing me..." Glancing at the other pups, their reactions seem to be neutral.

The shepherd's eyes widen for a moment. "Oh, that's right, our date! I gotta go get ready!"

I hand him a sheepish grin. "You finally remembered." I laugh after that, and he shares my laughter as he rushes over to the elevator to reach his pup house.

I'm sort of ready, I don't really need much grooming or anything. I had a bath a couple days ago, so I'm good. A few minutes pass, and I wait outside Chase's pup house for him to step out. The door opens, and I see him come out dressed in a suit and bow tie as if he were going on a Mission Paw. He looks really handsome. "Wow..." I say, "Chase, you look great!"

He blushes and gives me a sexy smirk. "Oh yeah? I do? Why thank you." He scans me up and down. "Where's yours?"

I shrug. "Don't own one." I chuckle.

"Oh, right. Well, doesn't matter, I'm overdressed for a picnic anyway." He presses the button to close the pup house door. "Shall we?"

I giggle. "We shall."

We take his police car over to the Adventure Bay park. We have a picnic blanket with us, a couple sandwiches made by Ryder's mom, and a stereo for some relaxing music. All classic staples for a good experience. The two of us head to a secluded area overlooking the water, far away from the playground. In case we stay longer than intended, we have a street light to give us some extra visibility, and a great view of the sea and beach with a stone wall as a border. Everything is perfect. Chase sits down on the blanket after we both flatten it out on the grass. As I put my rump on the blanket, it feels bumpy, like the blades of grass are poking at the bottom trying to escape. I don't mind it, though. I only care about one thing here: food. No, I'm kidding, it's obviously Chase in his snazzy suit. He looks handsome and cute at the same time. Oh, wait, he'd better not catch me staring! Look the other way! Look the other way. Guess what I did? I glanced away for a second, and he _frowned_! Was he enjoying the attention? I slowly avert my gaze back to my mate and he smiles again.

"Having fun, Marshy?" he asks.

"Oh, y-yeah..." I'm blushing. Why am I so nervous? It's just a date...

"Good, good. So... on the menu for tonight," the shepherd straightens his posture, trying to act poised and fancy, "are some delectable sandwiches prepared by the finest of chefs," he coughs twice, "Ryder, and for dessert... a special surprise." Chase grins at me, a devious sheen in his brown, beautiful eyes. I am a bit scared now for dessert but curious.

"Can't wait to try the sandwiches Ryder made for us, heheh. They're gonna taste fan- _tastic_!"

"Mhm!" The shepherd bobs his head up and down, smiling and wagging his tail, and trying not to break into a fit of laughter. He opens up the picnic basket we had brought with us, taking the wrapped sandwiches out of their sealing. Handing me one, we both take a bite, and I immediately taste the turkey, cheese, and lettuce mixing together like a flavorful maelstrom raging in my mouth. I can't help but moan in delight, and I notice he, too, is doing the same. Ryder makes some dang good sandwiches.

Chase makes a face. I furrow my brows at him, wondering what's up, but he kind of squints his eyes and jerks his head back a few times. Taking in a breath every time he does so, the shepherd finally sneezes... all over his and my sandwich. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a red yarn ball rolling across the grass behind Chase and into a bush behind us. Well, that's _totally_ not suspicious. I drop my sandwich back on the blanket and he follows suit, both of us staring at each other with confused expressions.

The shepherd's ear twitches, and I hear something, too, like a mechanical tool. We glance around, hoping to find the source of the sound, and I walk over behind Chase where I saw the yarn ball. I notice nothing, but I hear Chase yell my name, and I whip my head toward him. He's looking up, and then I turn back around and glance up, too, and I watch as the streetlamp overlooking us topples downward at me. I spin my body around and leap out of the way, but I feel the cold metal pole crush my hind leg; I yelp in pain. Plucking my leg out of the way the second I felt the pole crushing me with its weight, I grumble and groan in agony. The pain isn't enough for it to be broken, I think, but before I have time to think, Chase is next to me. He hugs me and gives me kisses. He asks if I'm okay. How bad it hurts. The shepherd calls Ryder via his pup-tag, and I hear the boy say that he's sending Rocky on the way with my fire truck and gear. For now, all I can do is whimper and cry.

Rocky arrives within minutes along with Ryder.

The eco-pup trots up to my position and barks out, "Ruff! Ruff! Stretcher!" A portable carrier pops out of his now red pup pack in front of him, and Chase helps him lift me onto it. With Ryder holding one end, both Rocky and Chase take the other to move me into my EMT truck. Ryder follows us in his ATV as we head back to the Lookout. The shepherd, during the ride back, never lets go of my paw. He offers sweet, soothing words of encouragement and praise for my bravery. I don't know what the damage is yet to my leg, but I hope it's not broken. I guess I'll have to wait till I get to the Lookout... with the pain being this bad, I can't really tell...


	3. Chapter 3

Exposure

Chapter 3

 **Marshall's POV**

During the ride back in the EMT truck, Rocky uses the X-ray scanner to see if my leg is broken or not. With a sigh of relief, the mixed breed confirms that it's just a sprain, and if I hadn't pulled my leg out right when I felt the pain, it would've definitely cracked. Rocky wraps my leg up in bandages with just the right amount, and I watch as Chase's face is changed from fearful to grateful. The pain has been dulled somewhat now, enough where I'm only whimpering every so often, and I finally hear us crossing over the bridge toward the Lookout. I hear the waves crashing against the bay. When we arrive, Rocky asks me, "Marshall, can you walk?"

"Let me try," I say, allowing Ryder to gently place me on the floor of my EMT truck. Making sure I don't put too much pressure on my bandaged leg, I begin to limp out of the interior. So far so good. Once I make it outside, I proclaim, "Hey, I did it! Not too bad!" I hum a tune and do a little dance with only my head, noting it would not be smart to start dancing with a sprained paw. As I look around, I notice the sun is setting, it must be getting near dinner time, and I've hardly eaten my sandwich from earlier.

"That's great, Marshall!" Ryder says. "Since your date with Chase ended a bit early, why don't you guys finish it in the Lookout?"

"Oh, sure." I smile and glance over to the shepherd, who's beaming with excitement nearly jumping up and down. With Chase by my side, we both head into the tower, while Ryder and Rocky take care of the EMT truck outside. The two of us make our way into the elevator onto the second floor, and then we pop a squat on the bean bags near the TV. A rather informal finisher for a date, but it'll do. A minute later, Ryder comes up with two bowls full of pup food. He places them in front of us, red for me and blue for Chase. As we eat, I say through chews, "You know, Chase, the way my leg was sprained has me kind of confused. It's odd for a streetlamp to just randomly fall like that."

He nods and swallows a bite. "Agreed, and don't forget the mechanical drilling sound we heard shortly before it happened, either."

"Right, right, how could I forget? It all sounds too fishy to me. Oh! And Chase! I saw a yarn ball roll past you, probably making you sneeze."

He tilts his head and furrows his brows. "That would explain my sneeze ruining our sandwiches, 'cause honestly, I may sound cute when I sneeze-"

"I can vouch for that!" I interject.

"-But that doesn't mean it's sanitary. And you know there's only a few things that make me sneeze, Marshy."

"Yeah," I gulp down a bite, "cat fur, feathers, and flowers. That yarn ball should be a tell-tale sign of what we were dealing with, though."

He nods. "Mhm. I'd say Mayor Humdinger is pretty high on our suspect list, here." The shepherd takes another bite of his food.

"We gotta let Ryder know as soon as possible, otherwise, this could get out of hand," I say, my pup food almost gone.

The shepherd looks down at his meal and begins to gobble it up, and I do the same, knowing that this info is important enough to zip through our extended date. Once finished, we shoot down the elevator again and race to find Ryder.

"Ryder! Ryder!" We yell, and the ten year old swivels his body around to face us.

"What's wrong, pups?"

"I think we know who sabotaged our date!" I say.

"Wait, somebody sabotaged it? It wasn't just a coincidence?"

"Nope! We think Mayor Humdinger had something to do with it!"

"Hmmm. Alright. Let's go investigate!"

"Awu! Awu! Awooo!" I howl as I limp over to the elevator with Chase.

Changing into our uniforms, with Chase in his Spy outfit, the two of us head straight down the slide and into our vehicles, and Ryder slips down his pole toward his ATV. And we're off to the park, with the setting sun behind us. Once we arrive, Chase immediately goes into "spy mode" opting to sniff around where we sat for our picnic. I frown. Our blanket is gone. Despite my nose not being as effective as the shepherd's, I decide to do some detective work myself, following Chase around. In fact, you could say I'm hardly sniffing for clues: I'm sniffing Chase's butt. Just because I'm at work doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with my mate. As the two of us circle around the streetlamp, the shepherd turns around and notices me sniffing his rear. He blushes. "I see you're doing some detective work, too, Marshy." Giggling, he continues, "I heard my butt has been acting suspicious lately, maybe you should check it out later~"

I laugh. "Gladly~."

The shepherd's face turns serious. "No, but seriously, later. I'm working." He chuckles.

"Okie dokie, then." I back off and let him do his thing.

A few moments pass, and Chase notices that a couple bolts have been tampered with at the fallen streetlamp's base: apparently, nobody has fixed it yet. The Paw Patrol literally does everything around here. He shows Ryder, and the boy is impressed and quite curious. Then Chase sneezes as he sniffs around some more. A tell-tale sign of a kitty. A devious kitty. The boy shakes his head, knowing all-too-well what this means, but he implores for Chase to continue his search. And he does. Three minutes later, the shepherd is behind a bush and finds the red yarn ball I saw earlier on our date. Showing it to Ryder, the boy nods his head a few times, and we all reach a consensus.

"This is definitely Humdinger's doing." Ryder glances at the both of us. "So, now that we truly know he's behind this, what do you pups want to do?"

"Let's do another date, Marshy," Chase says, looking at me.

"Why? He's probably just going to atta- Oh... I see where you're going with this." I smirk.

"Good idea, Chase, let's do a diversion date!" Ryder pumps his fist in the air. "But first, I think it's time you pups get some sleep, it's getting dark out."

"Aw, okay, Ryder," we both say in unison.

With the detective work out of the way, the three of us head back to the Lookout once more to hit the hay. When we arrive, I observe the other pups playing tag in the clearing, and I would love to join, but I know that Ryder will ruin their fun once Chase and I step out of our vehicles. The pups halt their game to watch us pull in. I watch Chase clamber out of his cruiser and then I climb out of my truck, and the pups continue to stare at us.

Zuma walks over to Chase and I. "Where've you dudes been? You just disappeawed on us."

I let out a nervous laugh. "Well, Chase and I decided to go with Ryder and investigate how that streetlamp fell on me and what ruined our date."

"Didya find anything?" Zuma asks.

"Mayor Humdinger is the culprit."

Zuma's eyes widen. "Ohhh, okay. What awe you going to do about it?"

"A diversion date!" Chase chimes in, saying it like it makes him the happiest pup in the world.

"Cool, dudes. I can't wait to hear about it!" The lab yawns, surprising him.

The yawn is contagious and spreads to the other pups like wildfire.

After my yawn, I say, "I think we should head to bed, Ryder is going to have us sleep now, anyway."

"Okay, sounds like a plan, dude. Night Mawshall!" Zuma turns around and walks over to his orange pup house.

"Where's Zuma going?" Rocky asks Chase.

"To sleep," the shepherd replies, stifling another yawn.

"Okay, then. Night!" The mix heads off to sleep, too.

Rubble and Skye follow the other pups, leaving just me and Chase out here under the stars.

"So..." Chase begins, "wanna sleep in my pup house tonight?"

My eyes grow wide and I blush, hard, despite the other pups already out of ear-shot. "W-w-what are w-we... going to do in your... p-pup house, Chase?" I ask, lying down and covering my muzzle with my paws.

The shepherd bursts out laughing. "Marshy, it's not like that! I just wanna sleep with you~"

"Stoooop!" I yell, still covering my muzzle and shutting my eyes. "You're embarrassing me...!"

"Come on, you know what I mean..."

I open one eye. "Maybe," I say with a giggle.

"So you do!" Chase tackles me, rolling me over, and then he tickles my tummy.

I revert to an uncontrollable laughing fit. "Chaaaase~! Hahahaha!" I let in a sharp deep breath. "Stoooop! Pleeease!"

"Not until you have sex with me~!"

I freeze. "What?!"

"Kidding~!" Chase resumes his torture session.

"Ahhhh! Wait! Wait! Then what _will_ make you stop?!"

"Not gonna tell youuuu~ heheheh!"

"Nooooo! You suck, Chase!"

He cocks an eyebrow at me, a smirk creeping on his muzzle. "And what exactly do I suck, Marshy~?"

I blush. He stops tickling me for a moment. "N-no! I'm not answering that!"

Chase starts again. I cry with laughter, joyous tears streaming down the sides of my face. "Okay! Okay! I'll answer!"

"What is it?" he asks.

"...C-cock," I answer, making sure not to make eye contact.

"That's right, I have sucked that before. Good answer, Marshy~," the shepherd gets off of me. "Now, let's head to bed, tickling you is exhausting." He chuckles.

"O-okay. We're just going to sleep, right?"

He stifles a giggle. "Yes, Marshall, we're just sleeping next to each other, that's all that is going to happen tonight. Unless... you want to do something more~?"

I wave my paws in front of me, protesting. "N-no! I'm good, heheh."

"Okay, then follow me to my pup house."

"On it!" I say, beginning to march behind the shepherd toward his blue abode.

I tail him into his pup house, and before I get a chance to step inside, he circles around, trying to get comfy. I think it's cute. Once he's comfortable, I walk inside and lie next to him, nuzzling my head and muzzle next to his own. "G'night, Chasey," I mutter.

"You... gave me a nickname," the shepherd replies, smiling at me.

"I guess I did, heheh."

"Night, Marshy."

"Night, Chasey."

Day 2 (Dun! Dun! Duuuun~! Just kidding...)

Today is the day of our plan. The diversion date, as Ryder called it. It's at the beach, and all of us have already had our morning yoga and breakfast, so we're ready to go. Well, Chase, Ryder, and I are. Bringing the other pups along would ruin the plan, but the boy assured them he'd take them to the beach soon, too, as an apology for not taking them with this time around. We ride over with our supplies at the ready, and Ryder gives the other members in the Paw Patrol their mission as well. They are tasked with getting Humdinger over to the beach. Robo dog awaits them in the Air Patroller, prepared to take flight toward Foggybottom. As for the three of us, Ryder hangs out on the border of the beach for surveillance, and Chase and I walk out on the sand to have some fun. I unfortunately can't swim due to my sprained leg, so we opt to build sand castles, throw the frisbee around, and lounge around above the waving waters atop rafts. Well, at least I was relaxing on a blow-up raft: Chase, on the other hand, makes sure I'm okay by holding the raft in one place in the water. Glancing toward Ryder, he gives me a head nod, the signal, that our guest is now here. I don't know how the other pups did it, but they coaxed Mayor Humdinger into arriving here somehow.

I grab Chase's attention, and he tilts his head, almost forgetting why we were originally doing this date. I gesture toward Ryder, who, nods his head toward Humdinger's general direction. The shepherd responds by playing it cool, and I do the same, chilling on my raft. I don't know what to expect. The mayor is going to do something nasty, but I still don't know the reason why he's messing with _us_ specifically. We wait for the attack, but for a quite a while, nothing happened. I stole a few glances at Ryder for comfort, but he kept shaking his head. I take in a deep breath and let it out, looking at Chase to hopefully ease the tension. He makes eye contact with me a few times, but keeps darting his brown orbs away. He begins to hum, and then I feel it.

An object pierces the raft I'm on with a loud _pop!._ It startles the heck out of me, and I jump up, almost tossing myself out of the raft, just to take a look at what hit it. It's a yellow suction cup attached to a metal cable, coming from... I follow the trail with my eyes... Humdinger's location. Before I can react, I feel the raft jerk, and I tumble off it, the inflatable safety net being yanked from beneath me. My body plunks into the water below, and since I can't swim, I just float down to the bottom and sit there. When I hit the water, I let out a nice chunk of my air as I plummeted, and so staying down here isn't a problem, but now I have less air. I watch as a murky image of Chase is panicking and about to go underwater to save me, but I see the shepherd getting sprayed in the face by... water cannons? Oh no, Humdinger is sending his kitties after us again! Fearing the worst, I yearn to head up for air, and I can feel my lungs burning. But I can't, if I push off using my legs, the pressure might snap my bone entirely, so all I can do is wait for Chase. My mouth opens and bubbles escape. Oh shoot, there goes my air. There's nothing left... and Chase isn't done dealing with the water. What is taking him so long?! Get down here... save... your... mate...

Chase's POV

This dang kitty is driving me nuts! It won't stop spewing water in my face, and I don't know how to make him stop! "Quit... it...!" I say, trying to not get water in my mouth. I can't do much when I'm treading water with all fours. I gotta save Marshy, I think to myself. I glance down for a minute, and I see the dally lying on the sea floor, not moving, eyes closed. Not good. On a whim, instead of going around the raft to get to Marshy, I dive under the water. Should've thought of that first. Stupid Chase, I think to myself, doggie-paddling down to my mate. Once I grab him by his collar using my teeth, I pull him up to the surface as fast as my legs can go. As we splash up to the surface, I can barely keep my own head above the water, since I'm carrying extra weight-you're going on a diet Marshy-and now that the fire kitty saw the damage it had caused, it slowly backed away. Luckily, I don't have to swim too far, because we weren't too far away from shore.

Back on the beach, I lay Marshy flat on his back and attempt to rack my brain for the training I had in CPR. After a few seconds, I think I remember some of it, and I get to work right away. Thirty compressions. A tilt of the head to open the airway. A few rescue breaths; watch for the chest rising. Repeat. I do this a couple times before I become discouraged. I glance up at Ryder, who, is watching Humdinger run away with a camera in his hand. I wonder what he took a picture of? Needless to say, I can worry about that later. "Ryder! Ryder! I need help!"

 **AN: Do ya hate these cliffhangers yet? I sure do. XDDD Sorry not sorry. And before you guys ask, no this is not a Marshall torture porn. He just... gets hurt a lot, mkay? XD Humdinger doesn't like him... apparently. :P**


	4. Chapter 4

Exposure

Chapter 4

Marshall's POV

I spew out water and hack out any leftovers. I don't quite remember what happened, but I open my eyes to see Ryder and Chase sitting next to him, worry plastered on both of their faces. The shepherd's ears were drooping.

"W... where's Humdinger...?" I croak.

"He ran off, holding a camera," Chase says. The shepherd leans in close to me, places his paw on my own, clutches it.

"I... see... I hope," I cough some more, "I didn't worry you guys too much..."

They shake their heads. "Not at all, Marshall. I got Humdinger in the act, but this diversion date didn't quite go as planned."

This time I shake my head and try to laugh, but it hurts, so I halt. "Yeah, it didn't... quite go too well." My voice is so raspy and dry, not to mention my mouth tastes salty. "I wonder... why he took a picture of us?"

Ryder shrugs. "That's the least of our worries right now, Marshall. Let's get you home." The boy faces the shepherd. "Chase, help me lift him onto your cruiser."

Chase nods and heads up to my upper side; if I tilt my head upward, eyes to the sky I can see the mid-afternoon sun casting a shadow over the form of the shepherd. A little bit further and I can see his... never mind. They pick me up in a gentle manner and place me in the passenger's seat of Chase's vehicle. We take a leisure ride back to the Lookout, and I feel weariness overtaking me on the way there; the rough breeze whips at my short white fur, my ears flap in violent jerking motions, and despite this, I am still able to sleep... somehow.

Awakened only a few minutes later, I open my eyes to see the shepherd shaking me awake, staring deep into my eyes with a smile. "Hey, sleepyhead. We're here," he says, turning around and hopping off his cruiser.

"Oh..." I must sound super groggy, even though I only slept for a few minutes, I was probably out like a light. "I'm coming..." My eye lids are having a dispute on whether or not I should be awake. Closing then opening, closing then opening, and the shepherd wants me to move now? Not going to happen, Chasey.

The shepherd recognizes my fatigue and sighs. "I'll get a blanket..."

"N-no!" I snap my eyes open, alert for the moment. "That's not... necessary." Using all the strength in my limbs, I stumble out of the cruiser, opting to just plop on the asphalt with a muttered _oof!_

Chase cocks his head, concerned but not too much, since the shepherd chuckles and walks off. "Okay then..." I say, forcing my legs to schlep their way down to my pup house. Haha, I must look like I'm drunk or something... Needless to say, though, I get to my pup house, open the door, a desire to begin a well-deserved rest on my mind like a soft, floating cloud above my head, all puffy and moist, ready for me to nap upon it's fluffy features. Except, that cloud changed to a grim grey color, meaning, even though I had easily fallen asleep back in Chase's vehicle, now my mind wants to run its rusty gears when I actually _want_ to rest. It's telling me it wants to chat about this whole situation, how much I've been getting hurt lately, and the like. Of course, I have no interest in chatting with my mind over these sensitive subjects, but it's pushy, and will not take a simple "no" for an answer. It is persistent.

"So~, how was your day~?" I imagine it asking me. The voice of my mind is supposed to be annoying, okay, so just use your imagination here.

"It was horrible," I say in my mind, to my mind- _haha! get it? I'm so funny..._ -"I almost drowned."

"Sounds like fun. Let's talk about how that made you feeeel~."

I give my mind a deadpan expression, even though it can't see it, and reply, "How 'bout no."

"Come on... you know you're wondering about whether this whole ordeal would've happened if you hadn't accepted Chase's love."

I shake my head. "No, I'm not. Quit guessing how I feel! You're wrong!"

I imagine it chuckle in my mind. "But I _am_ you, Marshall. I know you're doubting if this was the right decision or not, doubting your love for your mate, and doubting if you'll end up truly loving him in the end."

Why is he right all the time? I think to myself, which I really just said to my mind but... ah, whatever, screw this imagination stuff. So, yes, I am afraid that if this continues, Chase and I will end up further and further apart. Seeing how Humdinger is after us for god-only-knows-what, and how I accepted his love without even truly knowing if I even had feelings for the shepherd in the first place. I might, but I'm still unsure about this whole "Boyfriend" thing. I never saw a crush for Chase. I never looked inside myself to check if I had one or not, and now I've done things with him that I didn't know I would ever consider doing with a boy, no less. It's scary, concerning. Nevertheless, though, I'm with him for a week, and if things don't work out, I can always opt out of the relationship, but the thing is... I don't think I'd want to. Just because I'm doubting my feelings, doesn't mean I don't have them for the shepherd. I just... need more definite proof that I love him. I've been blindly following along with his stuff for now, and that's fine, but I'd like a concrete example of my own to show that I truly love him; whether it's my heart beat pumping too fast or me being comfortable in public with him, or anything of that sort. I don't know, but I'd like a sign. A sign telling me what I'm doing is right for me. I yawn. My mind finally has exhausted all of its material upon me, and now it's finally quiet. Sleep takes me into its inviting arms.

Chase's POV

Marshy must be really exhausted: I might as well let him rest for a while. In the meantime, though, the other pups are playing freeze tag! I definitely want to join, but... I don't know, I'm kind of exhausted myself, as well as emotionally drained. I'll try, regardless. Noting the other pups' positions, I weave and bob around them as I assess who's "it". I glance at Rubble: nope. Skye? No. Rocky? The mix breed looks like he's dodging in the matrix so that would be a "no". It's Zuma. It has to be. The lab is poised and ready to pounce on his prey, literally having the freezing touch. My eyes gloss over Zuma, staring at me with zest, wagging his tail. He must be aiming for since I'm the weakest link. It's true: my legs feel like rubber, and my energy levels aren't the highest, so I'll only be able to last a little while. I need to make an attempt, though.

The lab dashes after me, and I'm caught off guard, eyes as wide as saucers; I dart to the right, coursing through the other pups like a flowing river. An energy surge rushes through my veins, pumping it to my limbs and organs. Now behind the other members, I watch as they scramble away as if Zuma had a contagious disease or something, but there's one problem: I'm left out in the open now. Luckily, the lab is chasing after a different pup for now, but who knows when that dastardly devil will want to strike me again-

I feel a paw press against my torso. Shooooot. How did he-?

"Taaaag! You'we fwozen Chase! Hahaha!" Zuma halts his tirade with maniacal laughter, but only for a moment, because now, he's on the prowl again, and he isn't going to stop till he has claimed all the members of the Paw Patrol. It's at this moment that the adrenaline rush ends for me, and all my strength is sapped. Now exhausted, my smile all but visible, I saunter back to my pup house. As I'm about to enter, however, I hear a pup call my name.

"Chase! Wait! You're done already? You were just getting started..." Rocky whimpers.

I halt in my tracks. "Sorry, I'm already tired, it's been a long day..." I look away from him, down at the grass below.

"Oh... sorry, I didn't know Chase. Do you... I don't know, wanna talk about it?"

Talking about it might make me feel better; take a load off. I nod. "Okay. I'll meet you by the swing set," I say.

The mix breed begins his long, treacherous journey down to the swing set, dodging nothing in particular and moving so slow 'cause he's in such a hurry to run from the invisible monsters chasing him. Sorry, I'm trying to be as funny as Marshy. Is it working? I hope so. Anyway, I follow him, nice and slow, because that's as fast as my energy can take me. Like I'm low on fuel. When I reach the destination, Rocky is already sitting on the swing, and I gesture for him to scooch over, which he does, but there's still hardly any room. Handing him a deadpan expression, I hop up and squeeze in, our bodies compress against each other. It's almost too uncomfortable, but I bear with it.

"So," the mix begins, "what's going on in that head of yours? Doccy Rocky is here." He giggles and flashes me a coy smile.

I facepaw. "Not Doccy Rocky again..." I laugh. "But alright, Doc, just one more time, 'kay?" I fidget in my restrictive spot, now feeling like I can't quite breathe. This is too tight. My heart's beating faster. Am I nervous? No. Maybe? "S-so... I guess I'll start with what happened today."

"Heheh. Tell me alllll about it." Rocky has a cheesy grin on his muzzle. It's cute. But I have a different boyfriend now. Can't let those thoughts go out of control. For Marshy.

"For starters, Humdinger has really been up our butts lately."

Rocky cocks his head. "Sniffing them?"

"Worse," I add. "I swear, if it was possible for him to ram his head in there, he would."

The mix shivers. "Thanks for the image." Rocky then makes a disgusted expression, sticking out his tongue.

I giggle. "Anyway... Humdinger has hurt Marshy, twice now, and it's just been the two of us, and I don't know why."

"I see. And how does that make you feel, Chase?"

I facepaw again. "Again, with the stereotypical psychologist question? 'How does that make you feel, Chase?'," I say in a mocking tone.

The mix sighs. "Disrespect the Doccy and you get laxatives prescribed. Powerful ones, which I will force down your throat."

I gulp. That's definitely a bit much. "Uhhhh, Rocky? Aren't you taking this role a _bit_ too seriously?"

He smirks. "Not at all. Please, continue." He waves his paw in a forward circular motion, gesturing for me to resume.

"I guess I feel angry, basically. If you mess with Marshy, you mess with me. I feel like I hate Humdinger, actually."

"Mhm." Rocky pretends to write this down. What a dick.

"It doesn't help that I don't know his true motive at all. All we have to go on are his attacks solely on us, and a picture he took of the two of us during the beach incident earlier today."

"Okay, well, you can't let that hate get out of control, Chase. Humdinger is just plain mean, and he will cheat, destroy, and steal his way through anything that messes with his plans."

"Yeah, I know. It's just... why us? There's gotta be something behind it."

The mix nods. "Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see when more evidence pops up. By the way, as your Ex and not Doccy Rocky, how is this relationship with Marshall going?"

I let out a heavy sigh. That's a topic I'd rather not discuss with my Ex. "Switch back." I stare at him with a slight glare, enough to show him I mean business.

Rocky smirks and recomposes himself. Clears his throat. "Ahem. You wanted to see me, mister Chase?"

"Yes, Doc."

"Got it. Tell me everything."

"Sure thing, Doc." I snicker. "So, this whole 'one week' test has its positives and negatives. On one hand, Marshy has had no problem with engaging me in a romantic fashion, but only when we're in private. Which is concerning. He also has hardly confronted me in a romantic manner, basically, I've been doing the work. Also, Marshy's life has been put in danger twice! This can't be good for him..."

The mix has an imaginary notepad and pen, still writing things down, still pissing me off. "Mhm. Okay, so... just want to let you know, I am available if this doesn't work out."

I cough twice in an exaggerated manner. "Sell out," I mutter in-between forced hacks.

"Just call 1-800-ROCKY and you'll get a mix breed for $99.99 plus $9.99 shipping and handling. Call now!"

I pretend to pull out a phone and press numbers. Putting it to my ear, I say, "Hello, operator? Put me on the line with Rocky, please." I wait a few seconds. "Mhm. Mhm. Yeah, I can hold."

Rocky snickers as I start to hum some holding music. I lean over to him and whisper, "This is going so well…"

The mix follows along with my little scenario and pretend to be startled by his phone buzzing. He picks it up. "Hello? Rocky speaking."

"Sorry, wrong number. Bye." I hang up, making a _click_ sound with my tongue.

We both break out into laughter. "Thanks, Rocky, if this doesn't work out, I'll consider your offer, okay?"

He nods. I glance over to the other pups playing freeze tag. Wait a minute, I notice a diamond in the rough, a.k.a, a spotted dally in the scattered pup sea. He's trying to play, but is still limping and only walking. Poor thing. I frown, and look back to Rocky, he hands me a knowing smile in return. I go to Marshy. Immediately, since there's probably no point in focusing on the game anyway, the dally notices me and furrows his brows. I watch his eyes move over to me, then Rocky, then me again. Back and forth, but that suspicion fades as soon as it came. He smiles and waves at me, nearly falling over in the process. Oh, Marshall… always a klutz.

I can tell the dally yearns to play more freeze tag; however, his leg just won't let him, and his energy is already sapped of its silliness. Retreating back to his pup house, Marshy gives me a softened smile, a glimmer of sadness in his eyes. I don't understand: is he sad because he can't play with the pups, or is he sad over my interaction with Rocky? I just don't know. Seeing the dally this exhausted reminds me of my own fatigue, and I decide it wouldn't hurt ot take a quick catnap, since it's only the late afternoon. My legs automatically take me back to my abode as if they, too, desired to rest their weariness away.

Once I'm all settled, meaning I walked around in a circle for a good few minutes, I lie down and begin to shut my eyes. The moment my muscles relax and my whole body loosens up, my pup tag blinks and beeps twice. Great. Just what I wanted. "Paw Patrol! To the Lookout!"

Well… how 'bout no?

But I make the effort to get up again and waddle out of my pup house. As i step out, I notice everybody shuffling inside except Marshy. Looks like I'll have to do a mission without him. Sighing, I trudge my way down to the elevator, and the moment I step into the tower, the pups observe I'm grouchy already.

"Somebody looks tired," Rubble comments. "Maybe you just need a little food in your belly!" He laughs.

I'm not laughing. "Maybe you need to just shut up…" I grumble, hoping what I just said was inaudible to his ears.

'Woah, Chase, no need to be a jerk." The bulldog turns his head away and up, huffing. Looks like he heard me. Greeeeeat. I gotta lighten up, though, I can't be grouchy on a mission. I need to focus.

"I'm sorry, Rubble, I was just about to nap when I was interrupted."

"Oh, I understand, Chase."

The elevator heads up, and we change into our uniforms in a blink of an eye. Still don't know how that works. Lining up, Ryder gives us the briefing.

"Okay, pups, we're down one member, so we'll have to make do. So, apparently Humdinger is in a bit of a hot spot. He called me and told me he's in trouble, but the communication between my pup pad and his phone was so terrible that I could hardly understand what exactly the situation was. So, from what I was able to make out, he's in a forest of some kind. For this mission, I need Chase. If you use your drone, we can find Mayor Humdinger fast."

"Spy Chase is on the case!" I say.

"Skye, I'll need you to be our eyes in the sky. "

"Yip! Yip! This pup's gotta fly!"

"And Rocky… I'll need you for this mission as well. Since Mayor Humdinger seemed frazzled, he might be lost, and maybe his kitten carrier has broken down or something. You'll come along, just in case. Oh, and pups? I'll be staying behind to look after Marshall for this mission. Don't hesitate to call me if anything goes wrong."

"Got it, Ryder!" we all say in unison.

Ryder glances at us, a look of mock disgust on his face. "Hey~! Now my catchphrase is going to be delayed 'cause of you guys!" The mix pouts and whimpers.

"Sorry, Rocky," we all say simultaneously.

He clears his throat. "Ahem… Don't lose it, reuse it!" The mix says, loud and clear.

"Alright! Paw Patrol, is on a roll!" Ryder says and watches as Rocky, Skye, and I all leap down the slide into our assigned vehicles. Ryder relays a message to us that the first forest that comes to his mind is on Jake's mountain. So, we all take off toward the hills, and hopefully a certain mayor will be awaiting our arrival. As the three of them make their way throughout town, I notice that people are giving us weird looks. Mostly at me, for some reason. I furrow my brows at them, tilting my head. Not to mention, strange white posters are plastered everywhere; on buildings, on telephone poles, on windows and walls. I have a bad feeling. Pulling my cruiser over with my hazards on, I get out and take a closer inspection of these posters on a building. It's too high for me, so I have to get up on my hind paws and lean against the wall to get a better look.

This was not a good idea. I feel tears welling up in my eyes as I look at the picture with a caption below it. It shows a picture of me giving Marshy mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but it looks like we're kissing, and underneath it, it reads:

 _Can the Paw Patrol really be trusted with your safety? They can't even focus on the task at hand without taking their hands off each other. Remember, don't let love get in the way of your future rescue: Don't call the Paw Patrol._

I sniffle. A single tear falls down my cheek, and I wipe it away with my paw. This can't be happening. Humdinger did this. My paws tremble with anger; my muzzle heats up to an embarrassing blush. I can't tell if it's anger or humiliation at this point. I jerk around, pushing off the wall with my paws. Staring into everyone's faces, I observe their glares grinding through my fur one hair at a time. It sends shivers down my spine. I become aware of my hastened breathing. They keep staring at me! I don't like it! I lie down and bury my face with my paws; the mere notion of even watching them stare at me is no longer tolerable. Go away! I think in my mind.

"Oh my god..." Rocky says, mouth agape, paw near his muzzle.

I peek out from one paw and look to my left, seeing the mix stand there, gawking at the berating poster. "Chase, let's go. Now. Apparently these people have gobbled up this crap already."

I nod and stand up. "Right. No time to sit here having a meltdown. I have a mission to complete! Even if it is for Humdinger..." I lift my front paw up, balancing on three legs somehow, and clench it down hard. "He will pay..." I mutter.


	5. Chapter 5

Exposure

Chapter 5

Chase's POV

First things first: I have to clear my name, clear up the confusion over the Paw Patrol, and save Humdinger, as much as I don't really want to. Rocky and I hop back into our vehicles and begin our journey toward Jake's mountain.

Now at the base of the mountain, tall evergreens scattered about among luscious green grass, the two of us see Skye flying up to the peak. I nod at Rocky, letting him know I want to take the left-hand side. He gestures back and heads over in the other direction in his recycling truck.

"Raar! Drone!" I say, next to my cruiser. The back flap opens up to reveal a platform, and a monitor is revealed along with the aiming mechanism for the drone itself. I hop up and say, "Find Mayor Humdinger." Booping the monitor with my snout, and then the button next to it, the drone catapults out of the launcher. The drone flies off to the left, high into the sky, and I observe its path with the screen. I watch for any signs of Humdinger: basically, that stupid purple coat of his. Or his top hat, whichever ridiculous item stands out more to me.

It flies around for maybe ten minutes, and at a nook in the mountain, where there's a huge tree mass, I notice a tiny spec of purple. I take the joystick and manually move the drone in near the suspicious spectacle. I knew it. His top hat comes into view; the jacket; the fancy vest; his plump belly, and pants that hardly reach his ankles. Before he notices the drone, I whip it back and wait for it to return to its rightful place.

Revving the engine, I zoom over to his position; a smirk is on my muzzle. I'm ready to catch him and figure out what's going on. My cruiser swerves and weaves around dirt paths, the gravel grating my tires and coloring them a rusty orange. I keep my eyes in front of me, a devious desire to find Humdinger and snatch the info out of him the only thing on my mind. It takes me a bit to reach him, though, what comes by fast for a drone goes by slow for a pup on mere wheels.

Finally at the destination, I clamber out of my vehicle, but I attempt to make a soft landing on the grass. Mayor Humdinger cannot hear me, otherwise, I'll be screwed. Not to mention, I notice that instead of being covered by the trees, Humdinger is hiding underneath them intentionally, judging by his crouched position underneath the branches by a trunk. I recognize the kitty-catastrophe crew, but two kits are missing... huh. Odd. It's the pink one, and the green one. Regardless, I shake my head, no use worrying about that at the moment. I need to sneak up on-

"Hello, Chase." While I was busy thinking, the Mayor had stood up from his previous position, and was now staring at me, grinning. "Why might you be here?"

I growl and lean down, arching back on my hind paws and laying out my front ones. "You know very well why I'm here, Humdinger!"

"That I do, silly shepherd. Oh, kitties~."

I tilt my head. "Huh?" I hear a loud _snip._

Glancing down, I see the green kitty with scissors, who, had just sliced my collar off, along with my pup-tag. It grabs it and runs back to the safety of the mayor. I growl again, pounding my paw against the grass. I hear jets in the distance. Snapping my head up, I hope it's Skye to the rescue, but instead I get a much tinier version of the pup flying across the sky. Not Skye, but another one of Humdinger's kitties. It swoops in near Humdinger; it's at this point that I feel my fur crawl. I growl, snarl, and my breathing hastens. My way of communication: gone. Poised and roaring to go, I dash forward at the mayor, but as I draw near, the kitties block my path, weapons locked and loaded. Let's see... scissors; yarn ball launcher; buoy launcher; water cannons; yeah, I think I can handle those. And then I sneeze. Several times. This is embarrassing. The kitties look at me funny, but I growl and get back into position; I shake my head and hold my breath. I lunge at them and almost pass over, but I sneeze again and flip over, feeling a sharp sting on my side soon after and yip. My form falters, and I dive snout first into the grass past the kitties. Lying on my side now, the long slice open to the elements, I feel numb. I can feel the warmth building up in my torso. Is it blood? I check, and yeah, it's definitely bleeding, coating my fur in crimson and beginning to slither toward the green blades below. I groan. Mustering the courage to clamber back to my feet, I struggle to get off the ground, my paws shaky and unable to withstand the weight. Defeated, I plop back down and glare at Humdinger. As we had our moment staring at each other, his eyes were wide for a second, and then they returned to normal once more. What a monster; I feel the blood soaking into my fur, matting it down, drying.

"Okay, kitties, get this pup into the kitty carrier."

The kitties surround my motionless body, and I try to glare at them as much as possible. Using a net and Rubble's shovel, they flip me over onto the net placed on the ground. I yelp in pain as the unpleasant feeling of the net presses against my wound. Then, they use their teeth to drag me closer to the carrier, and then they "meow" for me to get up and walk inside. As I attempt to stand, the kitties, noticing my struggle, use their weapons to get me into an upright position. With excruciating indolence, I head my way inside my pathetic prison. There's no room to circle around. No way to get comfy. This is going to be a long ride. I hear a bunch of loud _thumps_ as I presume the kitties just sat on top of the prison, and then one large _thunk!_ , along with the screeching tone of the kitty carrier groaning in protest. And then, as the engine roars, we're off.

Rocky's POV

No Humdinger over here. I should check with Skye. Calling her on her pup-tag, I say, "Skye, come in."

"What's up, Rocky?"

"No sign of Humdinger over here. How about you? Anything?"

"No... I checked the peak _and_ the back side. Nothing.

"I see... then, meet me by Chase's area. I gotta bad feeling."

"Yip yip! Got it! I'll be there in a jiff!"

"Alright. See ya there."

Sighing, I direct my truck down to the other side of the mountain; the thing is, I don't even know where Chase would be... this might take a while. I watch Skye fly above me, hearing the whir of her helicopter. Hopefully she'll be able to find a trace of him sooner than me. It takes me a while to reach Chase's side of the mountain. As I near it though, I notice the dirt tracks his cruiser left on the path. They first follow a linear line, and then they curve, going off-road toward a crevice in the mountain. Odd, to think Humdinger would be by an area clouded by trees. Nobody would end up finding him. Maybe since he was lost, he just didn't know how to get out? I glance at the sky again: it's beginning to bleed a dark orange. If we don't find Chase soon, we'll have to head back without him. Luckily, Skye isn't too far ahead of me; I might as well tell her to meet me at the crevice.

"Hey, Skye, come in!"

"Yes, Rocky?"

"At the crevice, Chase's cruiser tracks stop there. Let's meet up."

"Got it. See ya there."

As I park my recycling-truck, I call out his name a few times, hoping he's still here. No answer. I creep over to the tree bundle in the center, since it's eerie and quiet. This doesn't last long, however, because Skye's copter swoops in and lands next to me.

Hopping out, the cockapoo immediately notices a foreign object among the trees. Lying on the grass sits Chase's collar and pup-tag. She heads over, snatches it with her mouth, and brings it back to me.

She drops it on the grass. "Whaddya think? It's been ripped off."

I scratch underneath my chin with my paw. "Hmmm, maybe he went to search for Humdinger in that mini forest over there and it got stuck on a branch."

She hums for a minute, pondering. "Maybe. It's a possibility. But the fact of the matter is, Chase is missing, and our only way of contacting him is compromised."

I whimper, ears drooping. "Yeah..." They perk up again as an idea begins to form. "Oh! Maybe we're in the wrong spot? Can Mayor Humdinger be anywhere else?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. The only big forest around here is on Jake's mountain and some other ones scattered around Adventure Bay. It'd take forever to search through them all."

"Right..." My tail is now between my legs. "I just want to find him, Skye. This is bugging me almost as much as water does."

"I know," her eyes glare into mine, seriousness glimmering within her irises, "but we can't afford to waste anymore time. It won't be light for much longer. Remember what Ryder told us? 'Better to lose one pup than two'."

I whimper again, my eyes start to tear up. "I'm not leaving without him..." Lying down, I rest my muzzle on my paws.

Skye cranes her neck downward. "Ryder? Come in."

"Yes, Skye? Something wrong?"

"We can't find Chase, but we found his pup-tag and collar ripped in half. We don't have enough time to search for him."

I can hear the boy let out a heavy sigh on the other end of the call. "Come back to the Lookout. We need to regroup and think this through before we waste any energy on a search party. Okay?" Ryder says, his voice slightly lower and strained.

I gulp, and wipe my eyes of the tears about to fall. Looks like Chase isn't a priority in Ryder's mind. How could he leave him behind like this? We still have time!

"Please relay the message to Rocky, too, Skye."

"Got it, Ryder. We'll see you back at the Lookout."

"See you then." The call cuts out, and Skye looks at me, her expression sorrowful and filled with regret.

"I'm sorry, Rocky. We have to go."

I take a few steps back. "N-no! We still have time to search for him!"

Her voice is a little more stern now. "Rocky. Listen to me."

"I'm going to look for him. You head back." I turn around.

"I don't want to lose you too!" she yells back. "Do you really think I like seeing Chase gone, either? I had a crush on him, too! And now he has Marshall..." She sniffles.

I swivel my body back around, slow and casual. I look her straight in the eyes, her own now moistening with tears. "He's gay, you know," I say, my gaze cold and indignant.

She huffs. "I'm going back to the Lookout. Die here if you want." The cockapoo stomps her way back to her helicopter and flies off.

I'm all alone. I need to find Chase, but it really is getting dark, the sun is almost past the horizon. Despite this, I desire to hunt the shepherd down, and decide to do my own detective work. Even though I don't have as good a sniffer as Chase, I put it to the test here and roam around the perimeter of the mini forest. I reach the far end, and while I don't smell anything funky, there are thin tracks leading down the mountain. Very suspicious. They don't look like Chase's cruiser's. These tracks are thin, and made my a smaller vehicle. A certain special someone's vehicle. I clench my paw in the grass. He took him. I know it. I take one last look to see where the tracks lead and hop back into my recycling-truck.

Chase's POV

I feel the kitty carrier shift and shuffle, waking me from my slightly restful slumber. At first, it was a bumpy ride, but now, as I've napped for a bit, it's more... gentle. Sure, it's still not a pleasant ride, but it feels like I'm rocking back and forth, sliding side to side in this tight cage. I flutter my eyes open and my heart skips a beat. Jolting up and nearly hitting my head on the ceiling of the kitty carrier, I observe the vast, blue ocean. Holy crap. I'm on a boat. But… to where? This is Mayor Humdinger we're talking about here, so perhaps he's taking me to his secret lair? Where else would he be taking me anyway? I sigh, listening to the waves rocking the boat. Hopefully they'll ease me back to sleep. There's a bang on the cage, and with that, I'm startled awake. Looking out through the grated door of the cage, my heart stops for a moment as Humdinger pops into view.

"Having fun in there?" he asks with a wicked grin.

I don't respond, only scowl. I glance at my wound and notice it's scabbed already, at least the pain isn't too bad. It doesn't look deep at all. Gotta get that taken care of soon. I begin to lick at it to clean it as best I can.

He huffs and leaves my view, but then I feel the carrier being lifted and moved. I see the blur of a beach; soft sand and grassy greens whiz around. Rocks ram into my vision, and at first I wonder what's going on, but then I remember: his hideout is behind a huge rock. The giant boulder rolls over to reveal the entrance, and I'm lead inside. I notice the expansive monitor to the left with Humdinger's evil logo on it, the cool touch to the air, and the metal sheen of everything inside. I am amazed. My jaw drops as I gaze at the control panel underneath the screen and vast open space. Humdinger walks inside and has the kitty cruiser follow into the center. He turns the kitty carrier so it's facing the screen.

The monitor flashes some still shots of Adventure Bay. Inside homes, restaurants, the Lookout... wait what? "Have a look, Chase. I keep a close eye on the Paw Patrol and Adventure Bay. But there's a blind spot that needs to be checked." The mayor glances at his pink kitty. "Go. See if the Paw Patrol is on their way."

The kitty meows and prepares its jets for flight, and then it's shooting through the air out of the entrance. I'm now alone with the mayor and his leftover kitties. "So..." I begin, "why capture me?"

He cackles. "You really want to know?"

I nod.

"Too bad. You'll find out soon enough. The Paw Patrol might be coming to rescue you, and if they do... I'll be ready. They won't be finding you anytime soon..."

I whimper and quiver in my cage. This situation is finally start to creep in on me. I'm trembling. I lie down and whine.

"You'll be locked away nice and safe~," the mayor says with a smirk.

"N-no... I know they'll save me in time."

The mayor sits in his rolling chair and spins around slowly. "I highly doubt that. My li'l kitty will be back soon with an update on the Paw Patrol's position. They must be busy dealing with a certain poster I put up! Mwahahaha!"

I whimper again. "Please... Marshy, everyone... save me. I could really use the help..."


	6. Chapter 6

Exposure

Chapter 6

Marshall's POV

Day 3

I hear yelling. My ears fidget as I begin to open my eyes, and... Ryder is in my face, shoving me awake. "W-wha...?" I mutter, squinting my eyes at the boy.

"Marshall, we're going to look for Chase, he's... disappeared."

As if I had a dozen shots of espresso, my body jolts awake and my eyes widen. "What?! What do you mean, disappeared?"

"I don't know. I got a call from Skye saying she and Rocky couldn't find Chase. We're going over to investigate."

I shake my body off, limbering my muscles. "I'm going with you."

He shakes his head. "Not with that paw, you aren't. Besides, I have another job for you to do."

I cock my head. "Hm? Does it have anything to do with that incessant screaming?"

Ryder purses his lips and slowly nods. "Yeah... there's a huge crowd outside, apparently pissed at us or something."

My heart stops. "W-w-what? N-no... for what?"

"Something about posters all over town depicting you and Chase... kissing. Rocky didn't give me much details."

"Oh... so that's what the camera was for..."

"Mhm. So, while we go search for Chase, I need you to do his job of crowd control. Okay?"

I sigh, my ears drooping slightly. "Okay, Ryder. I understand. I'll try my best." Looking up at him, I try to give him a soft smile.

He ruffles my head. "Such a good pup." The boy smiles and leaves my pup house, and then I hear my pup-tag blink.

"Paw Patrol, to the Lookout!" Ryders says. I know it doesn't apply to me, though. They're probably going to Jake's mountain to search for him, but if he's missing... I doubt he'll still be there. They'll most likely find a lead, though. I know they will.

I have a job to do. For Chase. With determination slapped on my face, I stomp out of my pup house, ready to fight fire with flames. There's a huge crowd of maybe fifty people, all pumping their fists in the air, mouths agape spewing nonsense. It all sounds like noise to my ears. I stand in front of them, with their screams resonating all around me, and I hold my chin up high. Staring them down, I announce, "What are you all doing here? Go home!"

The crowds sounds off in a maniacal frenzy, a voice chamber so thick and heavy I can hardly distinguish who or what's being said.

"It's that _ in the poster!"

"So _ Paw Patrol really is d_ by love!"

"This can't be! Who's going to s_ me when I need help?!"

"_ are we gonna do?!"

But I heard one thing. It stuck out the most. Loud and clear.

"Marshall and Chase need to break up!"

This statement alone made me whimper. Tears began to form in my eyes, and I back up a few steps, shaking my head. This is going worse than expected...

"I... but..."

When one person says it, they all follow...

"Marshall and Chase break up! Marshall and Chase break up! Marshall and Chase break up!" they chant.

My breathing hitches as tears fall freely, and I scatter back to my pup house, close the door without a moment's hesitation. There's no way I can do this. I ignore the dull throbbing in my leg.

Rocky's POV

I head up to the Lookout with the other pups, and once we all arrive in the elevator, glancing at each other, I notice it's very odd not having Marshall crash into us. In fact, it hasn't happened in a while... is he getting better? More coordinated? Chase must be giving him tips! Or maybe he just doesn't want to crash into his mate~. Anyway, the elevator shoots up, we change into our uniforms somehow, and Ryder awaits us at the top to debrief us on the mission. After lining up, the boy glances at everyone of us with a grim expression. "One of our own is in trouble, pups! We have to save him by any means possible. His last known location was on Jake's mountain. Rocky and Skye reported that they couldn't find him yesterday. But, we can still track his pup-tag to hopefully give us his location."

Skye shakes her head. "I dunno, Ryder. Look." The cockapoo hands him the sliced collar.

"Clearly somebody sabotaged this. I bet it was Humdinger. We should search for him on Jake's mountain immediately. I know he may be gone, but there still might be clues."

I clear my throat. "Ahem. I found a clue last night, Ryder!" I say, smiling and wagging my tail.

Feeling two glaring daggers pierce me, I glance at Skye, and lo and behold, there she was, stabbing those judging eyes into my torso. Can't say I care, though.

The boy raises an eyebrow at this, but he doesn't question it. "What did you find, Rocky?"

"Tracks! Thin ones! Leading toward the beach!" I say, loud and proud, making sure to steal a glance at Skye with a grin on my face.

"Good to know. That's all the information we need. Alright, pups! To the beach! Rubble, Rocky, Skye, and Zuma. All of us are going. Marshall is staying behind for crowd control and his leg."

"Got it, Ryder!" they all reply back in unison.

I head down the slide with everyone else and plop into my recycling truck. Revving the engine, seat belt on, I make my way down to Jake's mountain with the others trailing behind me. I'm going full throttle. There's no time to lose. It doesn't take us very long to reach our destination, and when we do, I immediately swerve to the left-hand side: Chase's area. The other pups follow suit, and it isn't long till we reach the place where I had found the tracks last night. Sure enough, they're still there, and the pups arrive shortly after me and park; hopping out of their vehicles, they all crowd around the tracks, jaws agape.

We follow the tracks to their supposed destination, and despite the darkness shrouding my vision, I was right: it's leading toward the beach. Without a moment's hesitation, we all drive down to the docks, with the tracks as our guide.

Chase's POV

I groan. Being this inactive and stuck in a cage isn't the most healthy thing for a young German shepherd. I've noticed the pink kitty coming back into the entrance only a bit ago. I wonder what it's up to. Not to mention, I haven't seen the other ones around, either. When did they leave? Did I doze off? I cock my head, musing to myself. A fit of maniacal laughter snaps me from my entranced pondering.

"Just as I expected!" I hear Humdinger cackle. "They're coming for you."

Is Marshy with them? I wonder. I make a sluggish attempt at walking the short, torturous distance of about a few steps toward the gate of the cage. I peek through, and I see Humdinger standing by his monitor. "Hey! Mayor Humdicker! That means I'm getting rescued!" Huh, to think I came up with that nickname on the spot.

"Not really, my irritating captive. They won't know you're here..."

"W-what?" I gulp.

"You're being relocated to a much more private location, unbeknownst to anyone but myself." The mayor moves in toward my prison, and I scamper to the back of it, whimpering.

"N-no... You aren't going to do that."

He only grins when he lifts the cage.

I feel the sway of the kitty carrier being swung back and forth; he's toying with me. This is not a nice feeling. I'm sliding around, and not too long after, I begin to feel sick. Nauseous. I haven't eaten in a long while. We stop. I hear buttons being pushed, probably a pass code, and the ding of an elevator; the doors creak open, as if they hadn't been used in years. I gulp. The gloomy dimness of the lair soon became a flickering mess as we entered the barely running elevator. To think Mayor Humdinger has the audacity to leave some things in his lair broken down is beyond me. The interior jerks, and then we're on our way down: pretty far down. I wonder who built this for him, anyway? It must've been ages ago, seeing how it's super ancient, but then... how old is Humdinger? Once the doors open, I'm lead down what I presume is a hallway, and as I look out the front grated cover, I notice several doors lining down the corridor. Seeing in them is a bit of a challenge, since the small square window is up high. We pass by several doors until Humdinger stops at the end of the hallway, opens one door with a key, and chucks my prison in there. I feel my whole world tumble as my back, sides, and paws hit the walls of the cage. Finally, the carrier rests on its side, and although dazed and confused, I watch Humdinger leave the room for a moment.

After a minute he waltzes back in, happy as a clam with a devious grin slapped on that ugly mug of his. Armed with duct tape, rope, and a pair of socks in his hands, the mayor walks in and turns around, closing the door behind him first. Creeping in on me once more, Humdinger opens my cage and drags me out, and then, with nimble movements, ties my front and hind paws up, stuffs the socks in my mouth, and tapes my muzzle shut. Afterward, he leaves with the carrier in hand with me in this bland metal room. I make a few muffled whimpers, tears beginning to form in my eyes. The socks taste awful. They scratch inside my throat and dry it up, soaking up whatever moisture lies within. I swallow several times. It hurts so much. I'm on my side now, front and hind paws tied to each other in pairs, and as the tears begin to crawl down my cheeks, I feel a dreadful sensation. No hope. No help. I'm alone. I don't know what's going to happen, if I'm going to be rescued, or anything. All I am right now... is nothing.

Marshy's POV

I'm trembling in the darkness. My pup house is so comforting... it's scary out there. The crowd, the screaming people, all that hate and misunderstanding against Chasey and I. I can't stand it. I have to do something, but what can I do? I can hardly walk into the elevator and not slip up, although... I have been getting better at that lately. I just need to convince them. Musing to myself, tapping my paw against the hard flooring, I wonder just what I can do to sway their minds in my favor. All of this is about that poster... I need more details. Who else would've seen it? Chase and Rocky were deployed that day. "Rocky, are you there?" I ask my pup-tag. It's cool how it responds to voice commands like that.

After a few moments, the mix breed replies, "Yup, I'm here, Marshall. What do you need?"

"Tell me about the poster, please," I say with a smile, even though he can't see it.

"Alright..." The mix breed pauses for a moment. "It was a picture of you and Chase, with him doing mouth-mouth resuscitation on you. It looked like you were kissing, though, and the caption had something about the Paw Patrol getting distracted by love and not to let them handle your rescues. That all you need?"

"Yup, yup! Thanks, Rocky!" I giggle.

With newfound vigor, I trot out of my pup house, prepared to face the crowd once more. Except, I make a sharp right and head inside the Lookout first. I need a certain something-something before I do this. Going up the elevator, I change into Chase's police uniform. I slip down the slide, being the natural klutz that I am, and then when I fall into my fire truck, I immediately hop out and face the crowd.

"Awu! Awu! Megaphone!" I bark, and the pup pack complies, shooting out Chase's megaphone. Taking a deep breath, I then yell, "Hello people of Adventure Bay! May I have your attention please?"

The crowd halts the mindless chatter and reverts to mere mumbles, their gazes more or less falling upon me. "I'm sure I know why you're all here... it's because you're scared. Scared the Paw Patrol won't be prepared to help you, but allow me to explain how that just isn't true!"

They give each other some quizzical expressions but then face me again.

I take another deep breath, a little shaky now. "That poster you all saw, looked convincing right? Well, that wasn't Chase and I kissing. He was saving my life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The Paw Patrol will never leave you guys behind for our own personal affairs. So, please, stop this madness. We will do our best to help all of you who are in need."

There's more chatter among them. It goes on for a bit, and I think to myself whether they're are going to believe me or not.

Then one guy in particular speaks up, "Who else is going to save us?"

I smile at that. "That's right. We're your only hope."

I see a few shrug their shoulders: they begin to disperse. Whatever works, I guess, at least they aren't on the verge of trying to tear down the Lookout anymore. As they're dispersing, though, I see some people in the crowd staring down the direction where the town is, and then I hear it, ears twitching: a scream, no... several. They're all coming from the town. Hopping into my fire truck, sirens blaring, I speed down toward the source.

I need them to have faith in us again.


	7. Chapter 7

Exposure

Chapter 7

Rocky's POV

As we hit the beach, Ryder tells us we need to head to the Beach Tower. It rises up from the sand, and I wonder when the boy had time to install it _under the sand_. I digress though, giving it too much thought would hurt my brain, so I dash inside with the other pups; Zuma, Rubble, and Skye. We change into our Sea Patrol gear, and Ryder commands Robo Dog to dispatch the Sea Patroller toward Foggy Bottom. The giant ship shoves off the shore, and we're off toward the island where we hope our pal Chase is waiting for us. The ride itself doesn't take long, but it feels much longer as my worries for the shepherd evolve into pacing around the interior. It's like I'm trapped in my head. The pups stare at me like I'm crazy, but I don't care, this is my Ex we're talking about, a pup who I still really care for.

Once we arrive at the gloomy island, we all hop off and immediately head toward the beach's right side, since that's where Mayor Humdinger's lair is. Unless he changed it, but I doubt that. Our former hunch turned out to be correct. The giant boulder sat there in front of the entrance, as obvious as ever, and all of us hide behind some nearby rock formations to formulate a strategy.

"Alright, pups... " Ryder claps his hands together, "why don't we wait till he comes out of the lair?"

"Wyder~ that's bowiiing~" the lab whines, stomping his paw. "Let's just dive in, and worry about the west later."

"Okay, Zuma, why don't you try and move the boulder down there?" the boy asks, pointing toward the massive object blocking their infiltration point.

Zuma sighs in defeat. "Eh, fine, Wyder, I get it..."

"I know! I can move it!" Rubble says, excitement oozing in his tone.

Ryder shrugs. "Thanks for the support, Rubble, but the Sea Patroller doesn't carry your normal vehicles, remember?"

"Right..." he whimpers in response.

"Look!" I say, pointing toward the boulder, "it's moving!"

"What?!" everybody else says in unison as they avert their dumbfounded expressions at the rock moving out of the way.

"H-he's opening it? Just like that?" I ask in a hushed tone, partially hiding behind the rock formation with the others.

The boulder rolls over in a slow pace, and once finished, it sits there, nobody stepping out to say "Hi" or anything.

"Let's move," Ryder says, motioning for us to follow him in. Oh boy, my heart is beating fast, and I don't think I'm ready for this. To see Chase trapped in there... with the evil Humdinger. I shiver as I get off the rock formation and onto the warm sand. Ryder stops us for a moment. "Hold up... Rubble, stay here. We need a pup on the outside in case something happens to us."

The bulldog nods and whimpers. "I don't wanna be here all alone, though."

With a sigh, Ryder kneels next to him and says, "Alright, I'll stay back here with you. Pups, go on without me."

We continue onward toward the darkness inside the lair. As we step inside, it brightens up a bit, but not by much. I see Humdinger sitting in his chair in front of the huge monitor. He spins around like a menace, nice and slow, antagonizing all of us. "Hello, everyone, fancy seeing you in Foggy Bottom."

"Where's Chase?!" I yell, stomping my paw down. Not to mention... where are his kitties, too?

The mayor shrugs. "I don't know. Why would I hide him in such an easy location?"

I glance around at the other pups, looking for answers. "Ummm, I dunno, but I have a feeling he's here. Otherwise, where else would you put him?"

Humdinger shrugs. "Not in my lair perhaps~?" he cooes.

I growl. "I know he's here!" I sniff the air, "I can smell his scent!"

The mayor's eyes widen for a moment but return to normal as if they never grew big in the first place. "I-I see..."

I squint my eyes. "Hmmmm, well, I'm going to have a look around..." I say as I maneuver around the vile fiend, piercing my gaze into his own like daggers while I prowl the area.

Sniffing every corner, the scent wafting into my nose, I notice that it's strongest when I reach the far end. My head whips over to the mayor, and then this suspicious wall, and then back again. The last time I glance at the mayor, he looks nervous, his fingers near his mouth, and the crevices creased with worry. Heheh, I think I hit the jackpot. "Hey guys, come over here! I think I found Chase's location..." I yell with a smirk.

"Alwight!" Zuma says, wagging his tail as he trots over to my postion along with Skye. The cockapoo yips as she follows suit. I gesture toward the control panel needing a passcode. Both of them give each other confused expressions. I don't blame them. I don't know what to do about this other than persuade Humdinger to hand us the code.

"Humdinger! Code! Now!" I bark, my tone demanding and hopefully quite frightening.

The mayor jolts in surprise at my sudden tone switch. "E-eh, I don't know if I can just _hand_ it you, you know?"

I growl and stomp over to him, my posture lower to the ground and steps slowed for dramatic effect. "Password!" I shout, "now!" I stomp my paw down and sit, glaring at him.

The mayor takes his foot and slams it into my side, causing me to yip and tumble across the hard floor. I hear the pups' gasping as I roll, the floor banging into my front and hind legs; this is makin' me dizzy...

"Wocky!" Zuma shouts, his voice cracking with concern.

"I'm coming Rocky! We'll save you!" Skye says, beginning to dash at me while the lab heads for Humdinger.

Zuma rushes in to attack the mayor, first biting his leg, making Humdinger yelp in pain as he tries to wriggle the lab off of him. Zuma holds fast, though, and doesn't budge no matter how much vigorous shaking he has to endure. "Graaaah~! Get off of me, mutt!" Humdinger shouts. While he's busy dealing with Zuma, Skye is helping me with the dull, aching pain in my side. She doesn't do much other than help me up, at least. Now on my feet, I head on over to Zuma to help him out, forcing the password out of the mayor should be easy now with the three of us. I watch as Skye beats me to it, since she didn't just get kicked in the side by a massive, overweight foot, and the cockapoo jumps into the fray with a chomp to the mayor's other leg. A smirk forms over my muzzle: only one place left to snatch, and it sure ain't going to be pretty...

I charge in, with one intent in my mind: leave him unable to make babies, heheh. Taking aim, I leap upward, latching onto his groin and biting down, hard. Of course, he yelps _really_ loud, and it pleases me. To hear this evil excuse of a man yelling as I bite his balls off is music to my ears~. He begins to dance like some African tribe, lifting his legs up one by one, flailing his arms around, and overall sounding, looking, and acting like a complete idiot. This is hilarious. I chuckle through the pants I'm currently chewing on, but I know I won't last very long, since the erratic movements Humdinger makes are becoming too much to bear. I glance over to Zuma and Skye, and I do a double take as I observe that one pup is missing. A lighter colored pup. Oh, okay then, if it was Zuma I would've cared a lot more.

At long last, my fun ends as one more shake throws me off too, and I watch in slow motion as I fall to the floor, but the damage has already been done. Zuma, to my surprise, is still hanging on and pissing off Humdinger. Lucky. While that's going on, I'd like to continue my torture session in another manner: manipulation. "So... Humdinger, how do those _balls_ feel?

"Ahhhhh! Please~ get him off of me!"

"Perhaps. On one condition. The. Pass. Word." I smirk.

"N-never!"

"Zuma," I say, my voice monotonous as I glance over to the lab. "You know what to do."

As if he was a robot directly taking orders, Zuma chomps down harder on the mayor's leg. The man yelps in response, and I swear I can see tears in his eyes. I think he'll break any moment. He's endured enough already.

"Ah! Ah! Please stop! I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Just get this mutt off of me~!"

"Zuma," I say again, the lab obeying my command by letting go of Humdinger's leg.

The mayor lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you..." he recomposes himself, "now, the password is... 1-"

"Wait!" I say, dashing toward the suspicious wall with the panel. "Alright, go ahead." Glancing over to Humdinger, I await the next number.

He clears his throat. "Ahem. 2."

I nod and press the buttons 1 and 2.

"3..."

Lemme guess, 4, right? I think to myself as I punch the number in.

"...5"

What. The. Fudge. Who the hell does that if it's going to be that predictable? I type in the rest of the numbers, and I hear a ding as the wall splits down the middle. Apparently, it looks like an elevator. It probably _is_ one. "Zuma," I call out, "let's go, we have a shepherd to save!"

The lab nods and runs after me into the elevator, leaving the mayor wounded and rubbing his nuts in the dust. Once we make it inside, there's no panel to show which level it heads up or down to, so we just watch it close and hope for the best. It heads down, at a relatively fast pace, and it shoots downward for a loooong time. Well, a long time for an elevator, I suppose. After the ding, the doors slide open again, and it's here that I realize we left Skye upstairs. I shrug. She'll be fine.

A hallway sits in front of us, patience being its middle name while awaiting our arrival. Silence looms in the air. There are metal doors in rows on both sides, with small glass window panes. My curiosity grows, and I approach the first one, nodding to Zuma for a little lift. It sucks being short. As he climbs atop my shoulders, causing pain in the crook of my neck, I wince a bit, but I bear with the pain. Since this is important, we need to check what's inside these rooms, Humdinger wouldn't have them here for no reason at all. Peering inside, the lab notices it's a blank slate, a room of no color with metal walls. Zuma and I look into each room. Every time a bit of hope gets chucked out the window as the growing realization that Chase might not be here becomes more evident.

At long last, we reach the final room on the right-hand side. At this point, our hope has left the building and is decking it far away from Adventure Bay, but something is different about this room; I guess you could call it a gut feeling, a hunch, but I have a feeling there's gotta be _something_ in one of these rooms. Zuma and I do our thing, and this time I hear the lab gasp. He nearly topples over, but I steady ourselves and keep him leaned against the door, but... he's desperately trying to climb down. Speechless, he motions for me to climb up instead, and I nod with a gulp, knowing all too well what I might expect.

Chase. My throat goes dry. I feel tears welling in my eyes, but I bat them away. He's lying there, hogtied, gagged, whimpering and staring at the wall. Even though he's showing emotion elsewhere, his eyes are dull, lifeless orbs. I'm going to kill Humdinger for this. "Ruff! Ruff! Hammer!" I yell, my pup pack complies to the command and brings forth my trusty tool. Cocking it back and forward, it shatters the glass, the shards flying outside and inside the room. They clink and clatter against the floor, and I watch the shepherd, but he doesn't even flinch. I frown. I pick and poke the leftover pieces still attached to the pane and try to squeeze inside. This is where being small comes in handy, at least. As my four paws hit the floor, still no reaction from the other pup. I sigh and walk up to him, lying down to his eye level. "Hey," I say, petting his head gently, "I always knew you were into this kinda stuff." I chuckle, it probably sounding a bit more nervous than I wanted it to.

This time his eyes glimmer, and he mutters something, rolling his eyes at the muffled sounds that escape instead. Or perhaps, he rolled his eyes due to my corny joke. I shrug. Who knows?

"Let's get you outta here, okay?" My voice is sweet and calming. I mustn't alarm him. He needs every bit of his sanity.

The shepherd nods; I use my scissors to cut off the ties, rip off the duct tape, and reach in to grab the disgusting socks in his mouth. He picks himself up, a little woozy and stumbling a bit, but other than that, he shakes himself off with renewed vigor. Somewhat. "Thanks," he heaves as he notices his mouth is a desert, "I'll... thank you later..."

I smile, nod, and recognize immediately a slight obstacle in our path. How do we get out? "Chase, your zipline?"

The shepherd hums and shoots out his zipline, opting for softer barks to call it out. Once he shoots it just above the open window pane, he has me ride it first. Then, as I land on the floor outside the room, I await Chase to follow, and he does. I smile, finally willing to feel an emotional rush taking over. My eyes leak tears as I embrace the shepherd. He's startled, but he wraps my arms around me in an instant. All this fear, fret, and worry, melt out of my eye sockets, knowing he's safe. He's in my arms. But... he isn't mine. I let go, my tears drying up and replacing themselves with only a few sniffles. Zuma casually goes in and hugs the shepherd for a brief moment, and then releases him with a sheepish smile.

With a sigh of relief, I lead Zuma and Chase back over to the elevator, and we go up back to the lair. As we step out, Skye is guarding Humdinger, snarling. Heheh, so she _is_ useful for something after all. I nod my head at the cockapoo, and she scans us, eyes Chase, and yips. "Chase! You're okay!"

The shepherd nods, flashing her a half-moon smile, looking away. With that, the four of us begin to walk out of the lair with our dignity and pride intact. Humdinger has been deduced to nothing, and before we leave, I glance at the pathetic man, but something's off. Is he... smirking? No... can't be. I gotta be seeing things. He's lost. As we step outside onto the beach, the sand cold with fog all around us, I couldn't tell if it was still daytime or not. I'm assuming it's the late afternoon. Needless to say, though, I'm exhausted... hey, wait, where's Ryder and Rubble? I dart my head around, looking for any sign of them, but they aren't here at all. "Hey, guys... Ryder and Rubble are gone..."

Zuma growls in frustration. "I'm going to whip Humdingew weal good this time, dude!"

I reach my paw out to the lab. "Wait, wait, wait, I don't think he has anything to do with this. Let's call Ryder." My pup-tag blinks. I cock my head, confused, but I answer, "Rocky here."

"Rocky? It's Ryder. I need you, Skye, and Zuma in town right away, I think we have a situation here."

I take a deep breath, and I hear the other pups gasp. "What happened?"

"Humdinger's kitties are wreaking havoc all over."

"Now I'm weally going to get him!" Zuma yells, turning around to stomp inside once more.

"No," I say, my voice sharp and cold. "We help Ryder. Take out our frustration on our work, not him. We need to move. Now."

The lab slowly whips back around, a knowing frown on his face. "I'm sowwee."

"It's alright. You can make it up to me when we go save the town." I begin to trot over to the Sea Patroller, and the other pups do the same. Wait a minute... how did Ryder get back? "Ryder? We're going to head over now, but how did you get back?"

"Air Patroller. Robo Dog is back in the Sea Patroller for you pups. I'll see you when you get here."

"Understood. See you soon, Ryder." I dash down to the Sea Patroller, time being crucial here, and I glance behind me to see Zuma and Skye helping Chase walk to the Sea Patroller. I bite my lip. I feel bad... but, we need to move, it's either him or a dozen people. I halt in my tracks, pondering and humming to myself. "The faster I get him into the boat, the faster we can leave," I mutter to myself as I dash back to my Ex. The three of us get him into the Sea Patroller, and without a moment's hesitation, Robo Dog stepped on it toward Adventure Bay.


	8. Chapter 8

Exposure

Chapter 8

Marshall's POV

It doesn't look like anybody got hurt. Thank goodness. Mr. Porter's display cup fell over again, and it had rolled across the street, nearly squashing the patrons at his restaurant and stopping traffic in the street. I think I can handle this on my own, but we'll see. First I have to... remove the cup from the street. Maybe if I push it with my fire truck...? Hopping back into my truck, I maneuver it behind the cup on the asphalt and begin to roll it back toward Mr. Porter's restaurant. It's slow going, though, since the cup is shaped odd, it keeps heading to the left, and I have to reposition myself constantly in order for it to move in the direction I want it to. Eventually, though, I get it out of the way, and the cars that were once blocked roar their engines and speed by.

Now there's a new problem. I can't get this back up without the help of the other pups. Time to call Ryder. "Hey, Ryder, it's Marshall, come in."

My pup tag blinks. "Hey Marshall, Ryder here, what's wrong?"

I glance around and hear a popping sound. My head jerks over to the noise, and I realize it was the water tower pipe bursting. I observe Humdinger's eco kitty running away. Great, so they're behind this. "Uhhh, we got a situation over here. Mr. Porter's cup fell over, and the water pipe on the water tower burst. I think it's Humdinger's kitty catastrophe crew."

"Understood, I'll bring Rubble over right now; the other pups are still rescuing Chase, but I'll give them a call soon."

"Got it. Hurry, Ryder." I cut the call and sigh.

It takes mere minute for Ryder to arrive, and by this time, water has been pooling around the water tower, threatening to inch its way toward town. The people by the restaurant have gotten to safety. I hear the sound of his ATV ripping down the street, the sirens, and Rubble's huge rig roaring. As they skid across the asphalt, the boy and bulldog observe the damage with wide eyes. "You were right, Marshall, this is bad. Alright, Rubble," Ryder glances toward the bulldog, "use your crane to lift the cup back into place," he points to me now, "Marshall, you help keep it steady up there."

We both nod and get to work, and while we do that, I hear Ryder checking in with the rest of the Paw Patrol. Apparently, Chase is safe and sound, and even though I'm supposed to be working, I wag my tail super fast, my whole body wiggling with the motion. The rest of the gang is heading over now with Chase, too. I'm so excited, but I need to hop in my fire truck and get my ladder up there so I can climb up. I do just that and maneuver the truck in place so that the ladder will fit nice and snug against the restaurant. Moving slow up the metal rungs, careful not to slip and fall back down like usual, I reach the top and await Rubble's crane to lift the cup up here. I eye him as he works. He places the mechanical arms around the giant object and pulls it up to me, and I gaze at it, almost thinking it'll fall and crush me. But it doesn't. Rubble is an expert. He puts the cup back down, with the base being parallel to the roof, and does it in a way where it hardly fidgets. Looks like my help isn't really needed. I glance out toward the beach and notice the Sea Patroller docking. Soon the other pups will arrive and help save the day.

As I step back down and head on over to the water tower crisis, I hear more vehicles coming in with sirens blaring. Oh, and Skye's helicopter is in the air as well, being loud and obnoxious as always. I wonder... I don't see Chase's cruiser. Maybe he hitched a ride with... Rocky?! My eyes gloss over the recycling truck blazing down the street, and immediately my tail wags as I see the shepherd chilling in the back, looking okay. He has a wound on his side, with the spy gear showing a neat, precise rip. I almost want to dash back and hold the shepherd in my arms, but... the incident with the water tower... no, that's for Rocky to deal with. I have no expertise in this matter. My legs move on their own toward Chase, disregarding the slight pain I will receive, and pretty soon they're charging their way to him. When I near the recycling truck, I say, "Hey, Rocky, the water pipe needs fixing!"

"Green means go!" the mix replies as he steps out of the recycling truck. He and Rubble head on over to the scene while I climb up to see my Chasey. Seeing the wound on his side up close makes my heart break in two; I can only imagine what they did to him back there.

"Hey, Chase, how ya doing?" I ask, my voice soft and gentle. I nuzzle his neck.

"I'm better now that you're here..." the shepherd replies, giving me a sheepish smile and blushing slightly.

"Good," I say, brushing his fur with my muzzle, "I'm so excited to see that you're okay. I was so worried. I had my own problems to deal with, as well as my sprained paw, so it's been kinda rough. I wanted to come save you, too."

"It's alright, I understand Marshy." He smiles. "All that matters is that I'm out of there now, and we can continue being together."

"Right, there's something that I've finally realized, too... I think."

The shepherd furrows a brow, cocking his head. "Oh? What is it?"

"Well, I was really worried about you, although I didn't have a lot of time to really think about you, since I was dealing with some issues, but... I really missed you. I had no idea whether or not you were okay. I felt like I had to block you out of my mind just to keep me sane."

Chase blushes. "Heheh, I see. It's too bad I went off the deep end already, I'm already crazy for you, Marshy." He laughs. "Also, I appreciate it. The worry. I don't like it at the same time, but it really means a lot. Thanks." There's a brief moment of silence. "You know... I really wish you could've been there to save me, but Rocky did just fine."

I look away. "Yeah. I still wish I was there, though."

The shepherd smirks. "Were you jealous~?"

My eyes widen, and I blush. "N-no! I just... wanted to be the one that saved you, is all."

He chuckles. "Uh huh, suuuure~."

I stomp my front paws on the ground. "I-It's true!"

I hear at least a few car horns blaring in the distance, this causes Chase and I to direct our attention toward said disturbance, and what we find isn't pretty. Down the road, the police kitty is directing traffic due to a broken traffic light, but the thing is, I'm pretty sure the eco kitty had something to do with that light being down. And so, the police kitty is causing a huge jam, with some cars stuck in the middle from being directed the wrong way. Chase and I hop into his cruiser and head on over.

The traffic is so backed up that we only get about three quarters of the way to the scene, but since Chase is an expert cone thrower, he chucks the cones out in front of the honking cars and leaps out of his vehicle. He walks to the middle of the three way intersection and barks out his megaphone. "Alright folks, I'm going to try and undo the wrongs this kitty did! But before I do that... Rarf! Rarf! Tennis ball launcher!" Out of his pup pack springs the cannon, and he aims it at the kitty who screeches in defense. The shepherd open fires on the cat, and it scatters around the middle of the intersection, until finally giving up and scrambling away. "Now," Chase has his megaphone out again, "let's get you all patched up! So this car goes over here, this one there..."

I'm watching him, my mate, doing his job like it was the most natural thing in the world for him. He truly is amazing, even after all he went through, to stay so strong and determined like that... is truly what makes me admire him. I'd like to help out somehow other than standing here and staring at him, but I really don't know what use I'd be. Sitting down on the asphalt, I eye him with focus and awe. The cars in the jam are being directed to safety, and everything is piecing together. Pretty soon all the cars were flowing like a river again, and the shepherd breathes out a sigh of relief as he gallops his way back to me, a giddy smile on his muzzle. "How'd I do, Marshy?" he asks, nuzzling my neck.

I giggle. "Amazing. Honestly, I admire your work so much..." I look away for a moment, and then return my eyes to the shepherd. "No, I admire you so much... heheh." I blush and glance away again, a smile forcing its way on my lips.

Chase cocks his head for a bit, furrowing a brow, and then giggles. "Thanks, Marshy," he says and walks up to me. Our noses are almost touching. He presses his lips against mine: a brief moment, since he ended it a mere few seconds in, but I really enjoyed it. When he breaks away, I frown.

He giggles in response to my expression. "What? You miss my kiss already~?"

I bob my head up and down really fast. "Yessss~ I do~."

"Heh, it'll have to wait. We have a situation here, and we don't want the public getting pissed off at us again, remember? Or did you already forget your lesson?"

I giggle and rub the back of my neck. "Oops. Let's head on back to see if there's anything else we need to do."

He gives me a bright, cheeky smile. "Sure thing, Marshy."

Rocky's POV

This water pipe is leaking really fast, the water is literally pouring down like a waterfall. If I don't stop this soon then the streets will surely flood. "Rubble," I yell to the bulldog in his rig, "use your crane to position the pipe in place so I can fasten it in."

"Let's dig it!" Rubble replies, raising the mechanical arm over the orange pipe jutting out of line with the rest of the metal cylinder. It latches onto it and drags it so that it's matching with the other end of the pipe. This is my chance. I climb up and jump aboard using my recycling truck as extra leverage. "Ruff! Ruff! Ratchet!" I bark out, my pup pack complying with bringing out the correct tool. My ears twitch as I hear laughter in the distance. Glancing behind me, I notice two pups in the middle of the street, with cars passing by them; a certain dally and shepherd were really close to each other. They were... getting closer... and closer, until their lips meet. My eyes widen. Wow, Marshall looks like he really likes it. I scowl. I should be happy for them, but he's my Ex, and I can't help but feel a little jealous. As long as this doesn't spiral out of control...

"Rocky! The water's rising fast!" Snapped out of fantasy by Rubble, I jerk my head back around to get back to the task at hand.

"S-sorry, Rubble, I was distracted..." I take the ratchet and have it begin to tighten the bolts on the pipe, fastening it in place once more. Now finished, it returns to my pup pack, and I glance down at the pond below me. There's no way I'm jumping into that... "R-Rubble... Wanna help me out here? I don't wanna get wet. Yuck." I shake off the shivers crawling down my spine.

The bulldog snickers and positions his crane above me, moving the claw down and having it take me into its clutches. I feel it swing me over the pond and onto dry pavement, and then it lowers, so I can be safely released to the ground. I am tempted to kiss the asphalt, but that's gross. Instead of doing that, I glance at Marshall and Chase on the street heading back toward Mr. Porter's restaurant. I guess I should do the same, since the threat here has been neutralized. While on the way there, I feel an object pelt my head along with a loud _thunk_. I yelp and groan, rubbing the impacted area with my paws as I lie down on the ground. My eyes dart around for the mysterious thing that hit me, and as I look around, a red hue enters my vision briefly, and I fixate on it. It's an... apple? Falling from the sky? Looking up, I observe the winged pink kitty flying around, dropping items to the ground below her. Mostly food. I guess the weatherman got the forecast wrong today: it's actually raining food, not water. In fact, I'm really grateful. I hear another jet flying by, and it's Skye, already on the mission of taking that pest down.

Meeting back up with Ryder, I see Marshall and Chase already there. I gulp and walk up to them. "Hey guys, how'd the traffic jam go?"

The shepherd is smiling ear-to-ear, as if what happened between him and Marshy magically fixed what he had experienced back when kidnapped. "It was easy: I solved it no problem."

Marshall raises his paw in the air. "Oh! Oh! And I helped too! By watching!" he says with a giggle.

Chase snickers too and eyes the dally. "Yes you did, without you, I would've never had the courage to do what I did."

The dally whiffs the air with his paw. "Naaaah~ you could've easily handled that by yourself."

"Heheh, maybe. Just... maybe." The shepherd nuzzles the dally's neck, to which Marshall responds by blushing and glancing away with a sheepish grin.

The cute banter is interrupted by a whirling sound in the air, followed by some scared "mews" from a petrified kitty. Looks like Skye finished the job. I notice the sky is orange, signifying late afternoon. Ryder walks up to us and glances around at the people scattered around town, Mr. Porter's restaurant, and in their cars. "Alright pups! Time to show the people of Adventure Bay how it's done. Clean up time!"

We all feign excitement for our reputation. Soon after, I scowl. This'll be a while. Not to mention, I'm sure Marshall and Chase will want to be partners. But... I can't interfere, he's my Ex. I gotta remember that. It's just... so hard. Glancing at the two pups laughing together, I frown and bark out out my claw to pick up the food off the ground.

The aftermath of the disasters took a long time to fix. We had to drain the pond by the water tower, remove the food off the streets, and repair the street light the eco kitty tampered with. After all that was said and done, the sky turned a dark blue. I yawned and stretched, climbing back into my recycling truck after the people thanked us for all our hard work and effort. It seems like our reputation has been saved somewhat; we'll see if those two screw anything else up in the future...

We all head home, and Marshall and Chase ride in his cruiser together as we drive back to the Lookout. When we arrive, before all of us walk inside, Chase pulls me aside as the other pups schlep through the glass doors. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" he whispers in my ear.

I furrow my brows but nod. "Yeah, where do you wanna talk?"

He points over to the swing set. Of course, Doccy Rocky is probably going to be back in session. We head on over there, the other pups hardly even noticing or let alone caring; all they want is to lie down and sleep the night away. I wouldn't blame them. I'd love to do the same thing, too, but now I gotta deal with Chase again. Sitting down on the swing set, the shepherd sways back and forth a little, while I opt to sit on the grass this time around. "So..." I begin, "what's up?"

The shepherd has a giddy smile glued on his muzzle, like he's on drugs or something. "Well... I think Marshy is finally warming up to me."

Oh, you don't think? I think to myself with a sigh. "That's... er... great, Chase. I'm glad he's starting to feel more comfy around you. What do you think finished the job?"

"I think it was him being without me for a bit, honestly. It probably created this gaping feeling in his heart that he knew couldn't be replaced without me. Heheh. Cheesy, I know, but it's the only way I can describe it with how I feel right now."

I stare at him, blank-faced. "So, I guess my offer is off the table?"

Chase furrows his brow, cocking his head to the side. "Offer? Huh..." he muses for a moment. "Oh, that. If it doesn't work out, you wanted to date me again."

I slowly nod, keeping up my emotionless expression. "Mhm. Looks like that won't happen."

The shepherd eyes me, trying to read my expression. "You're not happy. I can tell."

I shake my head. "I'm not. If it wasn't for keeping our relationship a secret, everything else was amazing. And now that I know the pups are okay with these kinds of relationships somewhat, I'd like to be given a second chance."

He shakes his head, and my heart sinks at that very moment. "I... can't do that. I like Marshy. You know that."

I frown. "I know... but I was thinking..." I stare at the grass and draw circles in it with my paws, "maybe... we can, you know..."

"What?" The shepherd is not getting my hints, tilting his head again and squinting his eyebrows.

"Would it be alright if I had sex with you and Marshall? The three of us?" I blurt out, heart racing.

Chase purses his lips and hums. "I don't know. I'd have to ask Marshall. I don't know how I personally feel about it."

"Oh..." I whimper and back up a few steps, my posture lowered. "W-well, think about it tonight, okay?" I say, my voice cracking a bit as I saunter back toward the Lookout. My eyes are still glued to the ground, and I don't even want to look back at him. Knowing I can't have him back for sure this time is going to be a hard pill to swallow. Unless... I gotta make this work. If I can't have him, I at least want to be with him one last time. A threesome _has_ to happen.


	9. Chapter 9

Exposure

Chapter 9

Day 4

Chase's POV

I wake up bright and early as usual, and I'm more than ready to tackle the day. Morning yoga? No problem. Training? Ain't going to kick my butt today! Jolting myself awake with a good shake, I walk out of my pup house with a bounce to my step. My nostrils breathe in the crisp cool morning air, the sun rising just above the horizon. It's early. My job is to wake up the rest of the pups, but oddly enough, the whole gang is waiting for me! Their mats are set up on the grass and everything, and seeing this, I dash over to take on my leader position.

A certain mix breed eyes me as I prepare my own mat, which the pups have put out for me. A kind gesture indeed; however, that devilish glare Rocky is giving me right now... definitely not appreciated. Ignored. Taking a deep breath in, I begin the yoga session with the same moves we always do, and throughout the whole thing, Rocky continues to pierce his gaze into my skull. It was hard for the dally not to notice, which, I found really disheartening, since I wanted to focus my attention on him instead, but even his gaze had been focusing elsewhere.

After yoga, we have breakfast, and not too much later, Ryder has us begin training. It's the same thing, the mix breed has his attention focused on me more often than not, and I find it distracting and irritating. Ryder even notices this, and reprimands Rocky for it, commanding him to run a few extra laps around the obstacle course. Good, I think to myself, he'll finally stop staring at me now. Once his punishment was finished, the mix breed stumbles over to me and taps me on the shoulder with his front paw. "Hey," he manages, slightly out of breath, "did you think about it?"

I shake my head. "I gotta ask Marshy."

The mix breed scowls and shakes his own head in disapproval. "Hurry up, please. I can't wait this long."

I let out a long groan under my breath. "Alright, fine. I'll go ask him right now." Stomping off in the opposite direction, I head over to the Lookout, hoping the dally is in there. Past the glass doors, I look around and see no traces of the dalmatian anywhere on the first floor. I sigh and let the elevator take me up to the second floor where I notice Marshy sitting by the pepperoni flavored treat dispenser. I giggle. Even after breakfast he's still hungry? Sneaking up to him, I whisper, "Boo!" near his floppy spotted ear. He jumps and yips.

Turning around, the dally's eyes widen when he sees me and giggles. "Heheh, what are you doing here, Chasey?"

"I need to ask you a question from Rocky," I say, my tone dead even. I don't even want to bring this up or even mention it, because I already know his answer.

The dally squints his brows at me and hums. "Okay... what's the question?" I can already tell he's getting suspicious.

"Well..." I fail to make eye contact with him. "He was wondering if... you'd be okay with the three of us having sex together." I gulp.

The dally sighs, his ears drooping slightly after I mentioned it. "I dunno... I'd rather it be just us for our first time, ya know?"

I do several ecstatic nods in a row. "Agreed." There's a silence that befalls the two of us. "I'll... go let him know your answer." Turning around, I walk back toward the mix breed, who, I'm assuming is still chilling outside for me.

Sure enough, Rocky is waiting on the grass for me, and I tread forward, but I do so with my head down and at a slow pace. I'm hoping this will convey the message for me, so I don't _actually_ have to say it. "Hey, Rocky..." I say once I'm right in front of the mix.

He purses his lips. I can already tell he knows my answer. "How'd it go?'

I shake my head. "He... wants it to be just him and I for the first time around."

Rocky grunts and scowls. "But it's not like you haven't done it with me first! You aren't pure! It doesn't matter!" He stomps his paw on the ground.

"Hey, it does to him. And I gotta respect that. Besides, he said for our 'first time' meaning, you still have a chance for next time."

"But... but..." The mix breed stares at the grass then glances up at me with a softer expression. "I want you, now. _Right_ now." He jolts forward and attempts to kiss me on the lips.

Reacting to this, I shove him away with both paws. "No! Rocky!" The grassy blades pierce his back when he drops to the ground.

Leaning up on his elbow a bit, the mix breed's mouth is agape and his eyes are wide and darting left and right like they had a shot of espresso. He growls. "What the hell, Chase?"

"That's my line! I am _not_ cheating on Marshy! All 'cause of your own selfish desires!" I tower over the mix breed, glaring down at him with my amber eyes filled with fury.

Rocky scoffs again and gets back up on all fours this time. He huffs and turns around, but he stays like that for several seconds. I notice his breathing is quick and shaky. He's not even looking at me. His neck cranes around and his eyes, beginning to get watery, stare into my own, as if they truly were sorry, but the mix breed did damage to me. To my relationship with Marshy, and I don't know how I feel about forgiving him just yet. The mix breed darts off toward his recycling truck and starts it, jetting off onto the bridge leading to town.

I almost want to follow him, but I wait and see just where he intends to go. Past the bridge now, he flies through town and overshoots it in a heartbeat, opting to go over the hill with houses lined in rows, and even further than that... to Pine Forest. I gotta tell Marshall. Running back into the Lookout, I find the dally lying down and relaxing with the other pups on the first floor.

"Marshy!" I yell, "we got a problem! Rocky, uh, ran away to Pine Forest..."

His eyes widen as he stands up on all fours. "What? I'm... guessing he didn't take the news too well, then..."

I shake my head, and the dally trots on over to me, with the other pups staring at us, completely oblivious as to what's happening. Marshy runs past me and hops into his truck, and I follow suit, getting into the passenger seat. I glance back at the other pups: they really have no idea why Rocky ran off, or what happened between us, but the thing is, I can't worry about their misinformation at the moment. I gotta help the mix breed.

Revving the engine, Marshy drives down to the Pine Forest to search for Rocky, while I worry about his safety. It doesn't take us long to get there at full throttle. At least it doesn't look creepy during the day. The sky is clear and only partly cloudy, so finding the mix should be easy with such acceptable weather conditions. Pine trees were scattered everywhere, with their tall appearance, bristles jutting out every which way, and how they stay green all year round. Surely, Rocky couldn't have gotten far, perhaps he had stepped out of his recycling truck at some point, too, which if he did, Marshy and I would notice it soon. As we traverse the land, the grass poking our paws, with a few birds chirping and the slight breeze rustling the trees, the two of us find Rocky's vehicle parked near a tree not too far away from our current location. So he's now on paws... good to know.

We stop in our tracks and keep our eyes peeled for a hint of the mix breed. A small grey hue among green clusters all around. Squinting my eyes against the sun burning them, I scan the scenery for Rocky. At last, I see the mix breed lying down under a tree, welcoming the shade it brings. He looks like he's resting, I really hate to disturb him, but this is too important. I signal to Marshy that I found him and point with my paw, and the dally gasps when he sees the mix breed, already trotting down over to him. We reach him in no time flat, and I watch his torso rise and fall in his deep slumber.

I creep up to the mix breed and gently shake him with my paw, jostling Rocky awake enough to flutter his eyes open. Upon seeing me, Rocky jolts up onto all fours and backs up against the pine tree for support. "W-w-what are you d-doing here?"

"To see if you're okay, silly~," Marshall replies, whiffing his paw in the air, "why else would we be here magically finding you?"

That's my Marshy... always lightening up the mood. Thank you. Smiling, I add, "I know you probably didn't mean to do that, Rocky," I say, getting straight to the point, "but you still need to apologize."

His head hangs down low, the one ear that isn't folded down drooping. "I'm really sorry," Rocky replies, failing to make eye contact, "I'm ashamed, honestly. I'm jealous of you two being together. I was silently hoping it wouldn't work out, but... it looks like that isn't even a possibility anymore. Now, I never planned on sabotaging your relationship, and I still haven't, but it looks like I have in a way unintentionally through my jealousy..."

I hum, pondering over his words, and I glance at Marshy, who is furrowing his brows in thought as well. Before I'm able to speak up, as I glance at the mix breed eyeing us back and forth with a frown on his muzzle, the dally beats me to a response. "Rocky... why are you jealous though? Do you still have feelings for Chase?"

He nods. "Well... I didn't initially. I had gotten over you, Chase, but once you and Marshy started dating those feelings of what could've been us came up, and they just kept bugging me and compiling until they transformed into jealousy. I'm so sorry... I feel so embarrassed asking for a threesome..." Rocky begins to whimper.

I rub my paw on his back, back and forth, to hopefully comfort him. Glancing back at Marshy, he smiles at me. "It's alright, Rocky. I think... Marshy and I want to do it ourselves for our first time, but as long as Marshy is okay with it, we can still do a threesome if you'd like?"

The mix looks up at me with a sheepish smile. "I might change my mind, actually. A threesome, even just having sex with you, will definitely not help me get over you."

"I guess. Hmmm. You know what would really help you get over me? Another pup."

Marshall's eyes widen as he stares at me. I furrow my brows at him and shrug. "What?"

"Another pup? Who else is gay in the Paw Patrol?" the dally asks.

"Everyone, I hope," Rocky says in a rather blunt manner, and then he chuckles.

We all laugh at his comment. "Hmmm. Let's think, guys, who here might have a crush on Rocky?"

Silence and shrugs are all I receive. I facepaw. "Looks like we gotta get Rocky back on the market. We got Zuma, Tracker, and Rubble. Which one sounds the most appealing to you, Rocky?"

The mix breed stretches his front paws then replies, "Well, I don't know. I wasn't planning on dating any of them. I only wanted you back. I'd rather just have a final threesome."

"B-but..." Marshall interjects, "you said..."

The mix breed glares at Marshy. "I _know_ what I said." He lets out a heavy sigh. "I just don't know. This is a lot for me. I guess if I had to choose a pup it'd be Zuma. But, I don't even really have feelings for him yet, and with the threesome, it may not help my situation at all in the end." He lies back down in defeat. "I dunno what to do..."

I step closer to the mix breed and lie down in front of him. "How 'bout both~?" I say in a husky whisper. Rocky lifts his head up just a bit off the grass, and I take this opportunity to kiss him. It was only a quick peck on the lips, and afterward, I gaze into his brown eyes attempting to judge his reaction.

"W-w-whaaaat? B-but..."

"Shhhh," I say, covering his muzzle with my paw, "if we have a threesome and hook you up with Zuma, it'll be fine."

I hear Marshy interrupt behind me. "C-Chasey... I'm not sure that's how it works..."

"Whaddya say, Rocky~?" I say, still in a low whisper.

The mix breed furrows his brows, darting his eyes to me and then back to Marshall over and over. "I dunno..." He backs up a bit around the trunk, since it's directly behind him. "Did... you want this all along, Chase?"

What Rocky says snaps me out of my lustful demeanor, and I back away. "Well, I can't say I wasn't curious." I laugh, but it sounds more nervous than anything else.

I can hear a scowl behind me. I glance back to Marshy, who's glaring at me. "So, you wanted to do this threesome all along? You were planning on cheating on me?"

"Marshall, that's not quite cheating..." Rocky says, sensing the hurt in the dally's tone.

"He's right, Marshy, I did ask your permission after all. You did say you were okay with it if we did it together for our first time."

The dally shakes his head. "I _never_ said that I wanted to do it. It was implied, but I never directly said _yes_ , Chase."

"Riiight... sorry, Marshy."

The dally's expression is blank, lifeless, but his usually calm, blue eyes show invisible flames prepared to burn past my fur and melt my heart to ashes. "No threesome. Absolutely not. Not after seeing what you've done, Chase. This will absolutely not happen. It's too risky. I cannot have you cheating on me in the future. This threesome will ignite the feelings you had and _have-"_ he points to the mix breed, "-for each other, and I cannot allow that. It'll break my heart. You're mine, Chasey. At least, for now. And that's how it's gotta be. I'm sorry, Rocky, but I just can't let this happen. If you want, we can help you with Zuma, maybe, but... it'll be hard."

I stand up and step away from the mix breed. "Whelp, so much for that. Sorry, Rocky, but what Marshy says is what I gotta do, otherwise I'll be a dead pup."

"Maybe not a _dead_ pup, but definitely not a happy one." The dally giggles.

"I understand. I'll just... do something about it I guess. I'll find a way to get over you."

I chuckle. "You'd better, otherwise I might just really be a dead pup." Glancing over at Marshy, I laugh, giving him a worried expression.

Marshy winks back at me, and with that, Rocky steps away from the tree. "We should head back guys. Everybody is probably worried sick about me."

I nod and look at the dally, who does the same. With Rocky rescued and the jealousy issue sort of solved, we all head back to the Lookout. As we arrive, the pups rush out the glass doors to greet us, and their faces light up when they see that Rocky is safe and sound. They surround him, jumping, wagging, and howling with glee. After the initial excitement dies down, we all head in and to celebrate his return- as if it was a traumatic experience- we all decide to have a pup pup boogie contest.

We had to choose teams, and normally Zuma likes to be on his own, since he's the master at pup pup boogie, but... this time around, Rocky of all pups decided to jump in and claim the lab. This results in Marshy and I giving each other furrowed brows. At least Zuma doesn't seem to mind, since Rocky isn't too bad at the game, but he is definitely suspicious, though, because once the mix breed picked him out of the blue, the lab already looked shocked with his mouth agape and eyes widened.

The contest drags on, with Marshy and I on the same team, Rocky and Zuma, and Rubble with Skye. Everybody is doing well, making the right movements and acing those tail spins. The mix breed and lab are ahead by quite a bit, obviously only possible with Zuma's skills, but Marshy and I aren't too far behind. While Rubble's and Skye's turn is up, we observe the leading duo, both of us waiting for our turns. They're making mindless chit-chatter. I can't hear what they're talking about, but I think I know what's going on. He picks the lab without a moment's hesitation, and is now starting to talk with him. Suspicious, but however he wants to get over me is fine by me. I have this beautiful dally right here. I lean into Marshy and give him a kiss on the cheek, and he looks at me half as if I was crazy, and the other grateful that I randomly did such an action.

Soon after their turn ends, the two exhausted pups stumbling back to the bean bags behind the dance mats. It's our turn now, and this is the final round, so this match really counts if we want to catch up to their outrageous score. I turn around and smirk at Rocky, both to signify that I know what he's up to, and to show him I mean business this round. The mat feels smooth against my paw pads when I step onto it. I glance downward at the mat, noting all the paw positions, combinations, and colors of each one. This is it. I may have been gloating before, but my legs are trembling right now, so I guess it was all an act. We're so close, yet so far; I need to win this. I turn my head to Marshy. No, _we_ need to win this.

The song begins. It's the same-old-same-old. Do the pup pup boogie~, I sing in my head as the notes flash on the screen. My paws move fast, automatically moving toward the appropriate positions, and I watch my bonus meter rise with every correct input. I wish I could see how well Marshy is doing, but right now, all my energy is focused on the game. Nothing but the game, Hell, I can even say in this moment, nothing else exists but my paw pads and pup pup boogie. Nevertheless, after several agonizing minutes where my focus had to be on every millisecond, the song ends. I'm almost afraid to look at my and Marshy's separate scores. As I glance at mine, I see that it's pretty high, and then my eyes drag over to the dally's score, which is slightly lower, but still pretty close to my own. Now to just wait for the combined score so we can tally up the final results...

I whip my body around to lay down on the bean bag, my legs now burning and my tongue dangling out of my maw. I'm panting after all that exertion. As I plop my tired body onto whichever one was closest, which happened to be the red bean bag, I notice Rocky and Zuma aren't even here. I furrow a brow. Were they even watching Marshy and us? Not to mention, what about the contest? Do they even care about winning?

Just where the hell are they?

AN: Hai everyone! I just wanted to quickly say that I'm extremely grateful for your support for this story. The view, the comments, the votes, everything. It means a lot ^~^. I know I haven't done an author's note in a while, but as I noticed just how many people like this story, I felt like yet another proper "thank you" was in order. Anyway, that's all for now guys, see ya guys... next time! :3


	10. Chapter 10

Exposure

Chapter 10

Still Day 4

Chase's POV

Glancing at Marshy, who's conked out on the blue bean bag next to the one where I previously lied down in, I decide to hunt down the two on my own. Rocky and Zuma probably haven't gone too far. Rubble and Skye lift their heads up off their bean bags, squinting their eyebrows at me. "I'll be back, " I say, "I'm going to look for Rocky and Zuma 'cause they disappeared before their match."

The two pups plop their heads back down on their bean bags and sleep overtakes them yet again. Turning my head toward the elevator, I trot inside and head down to the first floor. Glancing around, I don't notice the pups on this level either, but I do faintly pick up voices whispering not too far from here with my ears. Seeing as they're not in here, they must be outside, I think to myself as I walk over to the entrance of the Lookout, only to find two pups standing outside on the grass a short distance away. Let's see... grey fur and brown fur... yup! That's them! I hide near the wall by the glass doors, and immediately, I can hear their voices much clearer than before, and luckily, they haven't noticed me at all yet.

"Zuma, I know you're probably confused right now, if only a bit." Rocky is standing in front of the lab, pursing his lips.

"A bit, yeah, since I'm always on my own, and all of a sudden, you decide to be my partner, and started chatting with me more often in between matches. What's the deal, dude?" Zuma lifts an eyebrow and stares Rocky down, making the mix breed shuffle his paws and glance down at the grass.

"W-well... I dunno, I just want to get to know you more..." Rocky sighs.

The lab scoffs, and jerks his head away, not even bothering to look at the other pup. "And why's that, Wocky?"

"I... want to get over Chase," the mix says, rather blunt and to the point.

The lab shakes his head. "I'm not going to be youw cwutch, Wocky. I wouldn't mind dating you... but not undew those ciwcumstances. Wait a bit and find other ways to get over Chase, then come find me." Zuma begins to turn around and enter back into the lookout.

I hide further behind the wall as I notice this. Hopefully he didn't see me.

"Wait! Please!" Rocky reaches a paw out and places it on the torso of the lab. "Please... help me out. Please..."

The lab moves a step forward to allow the mix breed's paw to slip down and back to the ground. "No, why don't you twy actually liking me fiwst?" With that being said, Zuma is finally able to walk away without more resistance from Rocky.

The mix breed stands there, downtrodden, with his head sinking low alongside his tail and ears. Rocky whimpers. I watch the lab enter the Lookout and immediately find me; he glares at me before grumbling, and then continues to walk back over to the elevator. Poking my head back around the wall, I decide to try and comfort the mix breed.

He notices me as I walk out of the Lookout, but the whimpering he had been doing turns into snarls, his posture now ready to pounce. "This is all your fault, Chase! All you had to do was have a threesome with me! But no~," he walks closer to me, teeth still bared, "you just had to go and kiss me randomly, causing Marshall to be completely against it, and now my chances and yours, might I add, are ruined!"

Maybe I should feel bad about what I did. I mean... I let my emotions cloud my judgment and hurt Marshy and Rocky. I really screwed up... "I know, I'm really sorry Rocky. I screwed up. Big time. I saw how you were trying to get with Zuma. I also saw what happened too... unintentionally of course. I mean, you two liteerally just disappeared after me and Marshy's round. It's your turn now, by the way. Zuma is probably already up there.

The mix breed growls. "That's all you care about?! The win?! Honestly..." He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

I stomp my paw down. "You do realize I apologized before that right?"

He scoffs. "Doesn't matter. I understand where your true motives lie."

I give him a look of disgust. "Are you kidding me? Come on... I meant that apology sincerely! I understand you're angry but... this is getting ridiculous."

Rocky lets out a loud growl. His paws are shaking. "Now you're calling my problems ridiculous?! I'm done... I'm going to my pup house to lie down for a bit. Don't come after me." The mix breed stomps off to his pup house, and I turn around and huff.

Heading back up to the second floor of the Lookout, I see all the pups conked out, except Zuma who's playing a casual round of Pup Pup Boogie. As I walk up to the lab, I eye Marshy, who looks so adorable when he's sleeping: he's currently cuddled up on the blue bean bag drawing in soft, slow breaths, and his chest is rising and falling. He is the epitome of a cute sleeper. Stepping on the other mat next to Zuma, I stare at him playing the game, the lights on the screen illuminating his features in several different colors. He finally notices me as he glances away from the screen for a moment, and then he stops following the steps and turns toward me. "What do you want, Chase?"

"Ummm..." I look down for a moment before making eye contact again. "I wanted to apologize. Rocky wouldn't have acted like that if I had just given him what he wanted."

"He wanted to date you again?" the lab asks, cocking his head and lifting a brow.

"Well, no, he wanted to have sex with me one last time so he could finally get rid of his feelings for me, but... Marshy had to be involved too, 'cause we're dating, you know."

Zuma nods. "Mhm. I get it. Dunno how having sex with youw Ex one last time helps with that, but whatevew." He shrugs.

"Yeah, it confused me too, but I'm starting to feel bad for him, he really is just lost. He doesn't know how to get over me."

"I can see that, dude, since he twied to get me to date him so he could get ovew you."

I nod. "Right, right, but the thing is, I think we should just do it to ease his anxiety a bit. I mean, sure, like Marshy had said before, I was curious about it, but I wasn't going to do it without his permission, which... I thought I sort of had. I guess not..." I whimper a bit, glancing back at the sleeping dally.

"I undewstand you feel bad about what I'm assuming you did, but you have to make sure to get Mawshall's opinion fiwst. Go wake him up and talk with him about this."

"Alright..." I turn around and face the dally once more, sauntering my way over to him. Once I had reached him, I nuzzle his cheek to wake him up; he stirs slightly, groaning.

His eyes flutter open. "Mmmmm, Chasey? What's up?" he asks while sitting up from his sleeping position.

I lick his maw. "I gotta chat with you about something important, but it's gotta be in private. Meet me in your pup house."

The dally jolts awake and stands up on all fours, crushing the blue bean bag down with his weight (not that he's fat). "Ohohoo~ my pup house? Why meet in there~?" he asks, tail wagging with a devious smile on his face.

Oh no, he's getting the wrong idea. I picked the wrong spot to talk in private. "Now, now, Marshy, let's not get carried away here, we're not going to do _that_ in there."

"Huh? Oh..." the dally cocks his head, "but, then, where _will_ we be doing it?"

I purse my lips. "N-nowhere... it's just a private chat, Marshy."

He frowns, his tail immediately halting its wagging. "O-oh... I see. Lead the way, then."

We walk over to his pup house with the late afternoon sky over the horizon and head inside, closing the door behind us and flicking on the light. I sit at the far end, whereas Marshy sits in front of the door. Taking in a deep breath, I say, "Alright, Marshy. To be blunt, I want to talk about Rocky."

I can hear the sigh hissing out of his snout.

"I just feel so bad for him... I want to help him out."

The dally, with his head lowered, stares straight into my eyes with his own blue ones, and then he averts his gaze but returns it soon after. "I know you do. But that's not our problem, Chasey. It's not up to us to fix his problems. I still don't want to do the threesome and still stand by the position that it isn't going to help him in the long run. It won't. It'll cause him more pain."

Looking down at the floor, I frown. "Alright. I get it. I understand, Marshy. I guess... we just leave him be."

Marshall smiles. "And work on us. You know we only have a few days left to test the waters... and this day is almost over."

"Oh, right... Forgot. I got so wrapped up in Humdinger and Rocky that we haven't had much time to spend with each other. I wonder what he's up to, the mayor? He better not be devising another plan..."

"After that plan, I don't think he has much left to do after that. I mean, we saved Adventure Bay, and the people regained their faith in us again. He has nothing left to exploit."

"Yeah, but what if he still wants to attack us?"

He shrugs. "Eh, I'm sure we'll be able to handle it again."

"You're right. Well, that was a good talk, Marshy. We should probably go join the others now." I begin to walk toward the door, but the dally still blocks my path.

I cock my head. "Marshy? Aren't you going to move?"

He shakes his head and approaches me. "I'm not moving anywhere~ you got me all excited for nothing, and then you just want to leave the perfect opportunity to do it?"

I blush hard with a sheepish smile, clearly knowing what he means, but I ain't going to admit that. "T-to do w-what?"

"You knooow~," the dally leans in and kisses me. After releasing in a few seconds, he continues, "I want this~ but going even further~."

I smirk. "Heheh, screw Rocky right now, all I want is you..." Planting my lips on his, I place my paws underneath both sides of his muzzle and gently push him against the door. I slide my paws downward now, caressing his shoulders and then slithering them further down his backside, while I still focus on making out with my dally. Pretty soon, we're both moaning with our lips still connected, breathing through our nostrils, since neither one of us wants to take a break for air. I mean, who needs it anyway? The dally's tail hole soon finds a finger prodding it as my tongue begs for entry deeper into his mouth. He moans, his eyes opening for a second, and I open my own and stare Marshy down, letting him know through nonverbal communication that I know that he knows what I'm doing. I can't be fooled. Pondering my action for a moment, I break the kiss before I would've slipped my tongue further into his mouth, which resulted in him gasping and frowning, but I realized just now: I need to lubricate my finger otherwise it'll hurt him.

Taking my finger and putting it in my mouth, I suck on it, eyeing the dally while doing so, but I almost crack up from how silly it looks and giggle. And then I draw near Marshy once more, placing my paw on his butt, hovering my lubed finger over his pucker. I give him a seductive grin as I place my lips on his one more time, and not too long after, I slip my finger inside his tail hole. He gasps in my mouth, and I take this opportunity to slip my tongue in uninvited, but he probably expected it again at some point, anyway. Our tongues intermingle like they're on a date, except it's more like a hook up where they're already all over each other. They swirl and lap around one another; the smooth yet also rough surface sends tingles down my spine. Our muzzles interlock as we move our heads in tandem, trying to fight for a better position. A battle of tongues. During this time, I can hear the dally moaning as my finger protrudes deeper into his tail hole and stretches him out, pretty soon, though, I incorporate another finger in there. This causes him to almost yelp out in surprise, but I grab his chin with my free paw and keep his focus on me. I forget, he's never done anything before, unlike me, so he's going to be _really tight_. Spreading my fingers out like they're scissors, I get Marshy to reach past his limits, and it's at a point where he can hardly tend to my tongue at this point; I watch as his hind legs buckle and shudder, and instead of moving forward with my tongue, I pull back, a string of saliva disconnecting and dripping between our mouths. "Move away from the wall and onto the floor, Marshy~," I say, husky tone evident.

He winces as he moves with my fingers still deep in his pucker. "O-okay, Chasey, please... be gentle."

I nod and place the dally on the floor with his stomach facing upward. His hind legs rest upon both of my shoulders, his rear now fully exposed to me. In my kneeling position, I continue to stretch him out, with him moaning, and my own member beginning to poke out of its sheath in preparation for what's to come. Placing another finger in there, the dally yips and winces, and I apologize, rubbing his thigh. I move much slower to put this third finger in and take my time when stretching his hole out even further. Marshy is groaning from the unpleasant sensation. I feel bad, but I really can't wait much longer; the anticipation has my pink cock already hardened and prepared to penetrate. Besides, I think he's stretched out enough, anyway. It's going to hurt regardless. I slide my fingers out.

I position my pink member behind his tail hole with my paws beside his torso. "You ready, Marshy~?"

He nods, wincing a bit in anticipation of the pain about to come. Drawing in a sharp breath, the dally stares at me, as if he was pleading me to begin and not to at the same time. I pressed my member against the tender flesh of his hole, I feel his body shudder with the contact, and then I slowly push in, and luckily, the saliva from coating my fingers lubed his insides a bit, so it starts to go in without much hindrance. Doesn't mean it isn't hurting my poor dally, though. He's groaning, and I've barely gone in an inch. He's tight~. Even after all that stretching...

"Ch-Chasey~ it huuurts~," he grumbles, shifting a bit as I shove my member in a bit more.

I halt my progress and lean over his body, taking a moment to glance at his own hardened erection, only slightly smaller than mine at 5 inches, and near his muzzle. "It's okay, I'll go as slow as you want me to, Marshy~," I coo, giving him a soft peck on the lips. Leaning back, I continue to move forward, his pucker beginning to distend as the thicker portion of my cock enters it. More groans, louder now, and surprisingly, he hasn't moaned yet, maybe that's because of the overwhelming pain at the moment? Still, though, in order for him to feel more pleasure, I have to go deeper to hit that G-spot. Rubbing his thighs again for comfort, I slide in more, a little bit faster this time, just to stop the pain and reach that amazing bliss he'll soon feel. He yelps more, but as my entire cock slides in, my knot now brushing against his bum, I press into him a tad, and he moans in ecstasy as I just slightly tap his G-spot. "That feel better, Marshy~?" I say, smirking.

"Y-yeaaaahhh... keep going~," he replies, eyes closing.

"Alright... here I go!"

With a loud grunt and a quick hip thrust, the dally yelps in pain. After I pause for a moment to let him breathe, he nods for me to go on, and I do, slowly gyrating my hips back and forth, rocking his body ever so slightly. I have to be gentle at first. Ease him into it. His soft gasps urge me to go faster, but I have to have self control, it is the dally that must make me go faster, not the other way around; that's how they get hurt. I stare at Marshy, his eyes closed, body rocking, those soft gasps now turning into quiet moans, and just when I want to speed things up, he breathes out, "F-faster~ Chasey~."

"With pleasure~!" I say, hastening my pace enough to hear my groin beginning to slap against the dally's bum.

His moans are more labored, becoming louder and louder, and my mind fills with fantasies of him shouting my name as we reach the climax, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The inside of his pucker is so warm, tight, compressing against my cock as my thrusts get quicker. I do feel something building up, though, and that naturally increases my speed, and Marshy seems to be enjoying it, with his moans barely sounding like moans anymore, more like pants as if he were out of breath. This must be really intense for him; I mean, it is his first time after all. I stare at his hardened member, pre-cum dribbling down the side of it. I just wanna lick it up~, but first~, to take care of this dally~. I must imagine he's starting to get the funny feeling in his member as well, because he's gripping the ground tight, his paws straining, and his legs that are on my shoulders are pressing down hard on me. I don't mind. They'll relax soon.

At long last, our pace is so fast that I can't hold it in anymore, and I shove my swelled knot all the way in, resulting in the dally yelping really loud. For a moment, I think our cover is blown, but it's like this thought is pushed out of my mind in a second, 'cause a certain feeling overcame that thought by a long shot. I shout out, "I'm gonna cum!"

"M-me too!" the dally replies.

I blow my load inside the dally, my cock pulsing and throbbing, shooting its thick spurts of seed into his inner walls. Marshy isn't too far behind, and his seed spews out onto his stomach, his cock jerking forward with each load. Once we both settle down, I nearly collapse on the dally, panting with my tongue out. I begin to slurp up the sticky remains of his seed, and he giggles, despite being exhausted as well. A funky smell is in the air. But... I like it. It's a reminder of what happened here tonight. Too bad it won't last.

"That was... amazing..." Marshy breathes out, and then he chuckles.

I laugh, too, cocking an eyebrow. "What's so funny, marshy?" I lie on top of him, eyeing his beautiful blue eyes. I still haven't pulled out of him yet; I gotta wait till my knot swells down.

"Nothing... I just... that was a great experience, Chasey. Thank you."

I wrap my arms around the dally, and he slides his legs down and locks them around my lower back. "I'm really glad you're my boyfriend, Chasey." Marshy smiles at me.

And I smile back.

We wait a while for my knot to go down before I pull out, and we head out of Marshy's pup house, the sky already beginning to turn a dark blue. Must be dinner time. Looking around, our eyes peeled for any pup watching, I see Rocky near his pup house glaring us down. Great, just what I wanted. I nod over in the general direction the mix breed is in while facing Marshy, and he immediately notices Rocky, too. We jet over to the Lookout entrance, fast. As we head through the glass doors, Ryder is about to call us on our pup tags, and he halts in his tracks, looking up to see us. "Oh, hey pups, dinner is ready."

"Thanks, Ryder," we both say, walking past him and toward our respective food bowls. When we chow down with the rest of the pups, I peek behind me and see Rocky lurching in, his eyes still locked onto Marshy and I like an actual physical lock is on them keeping them in place; however... only he has the key. The food doesn't last long for Marshy and I. Zuma, too, but oddly enough, Rocky isn't eating too much, and the pup, after eating half of his food, scooches his bowl over to the lab as Zuma was about to leave. The lab stares at the mix breed for a moment, his eyebrow cocked, but he then eyes the food below him. Zuma wolfs it down.

After dinner, Ryder tells all of us we're going to help set up a Paw Patrol appreciation day tomorrow, so we should all get some shut-eye. Looks like Mayor Goodway is going to have to add our help to that appreciation ceremony. He sends us off to bed, and before I leave the Lookout, I whip my head around and see Rocky and Zuma chilling. Curious but also pretty exhausted, I shrug and head out of the Lookout. Finding Marshy by his pup house, I ask, "Hey, wanna sleep with me tonight?" I smile as he nods ecstatically. We head over to my pup house this time around. I really love him. Tomorrow's gonna be great!


	11. Chapter 11

Exposure

Chapter 11

Day 6

Marshy's POV

After getting up early in the morning, doing yoga, training, and breakfast, Ryder calls us up to the Lookout to help prepare for the appreciation day the Mayor has planned for us. Lining up in our usual formation, Ryder begins the debriefing.

"Alright, pups, you know what today's mission is," the boy waits for the situation to show up on the huge monitor beside him, "today, we're going to help Mayor Goodway prepare for your appreciation day in any way possible. I'll need all paws on deck for this one. Paw Patrol is on a roll!" He heads over to his pole and shoots down it, while the rest of us run down toward our own slide. Now in our vehicles, we head down to City Hall. On our way there, though, I can't help but glance behind me at Zuma and Rocky. They're driving next to each other, chit-chatting. Chase notices too. I shrug at my shepherd, and he does the same. Something is definitely brewing between those two, and I know what it is, and if it works out, I'll be super happy for them. Rocky will be off our backs.

One short ride later, and we arrive at the City Hall. The area is a mess of balloons, a stage in desperate need of assembling, tables scattered around with miscellaneous bags, cup and plate stacks, and bins of silverware. Our vehicles skid to a halt on the scene. The mayor is standing in the middle of the disaster, her hands trembling and held close to her chest, her usual bright blue blouse and darker shaded skirt sticking out among the objects. All of us walk up to her, scanning the disaster before us.

"Oh, good, the Paw patrol has arrived! Ryder! Ryder!" She runs toward the boy, lugging her purse chicken Chicaletta on her shoulder. Grabbing the boy's shoulders, she nearly screams in his ear, "Ryder! I need help! I can't finish all the decorating myself for your appreciation party! Please, please, please help me!"

"Sure thing, Mayor, it looks like you need balloons hung up, a stage to be built, and tables to be set. Well, the Paw Patrol will finish this up in no time!" Ryder spins around and eyes me and a few other pups with their gear on. "Marshall, I need you and your fire truck to hang balloons," the boy then points to Rubble and Rocky, "Rocky, Rubble, I need you two to assemble the stage." Ryder places his hands upon his hips and takes a quick heave out of his nose. "And finally, Chase, Skye, and Zuma, all of you can set up the tables and help the Mayor with any other miscellaneous task."

"Got it, Ryder!" we all say in unison.

My tail is wagging. I'm pumped for this appreciation party to get started. But first, we gotta work for it, which is fine, because working as a fire pup is my life! Especially if I get to be with my Chasey~. I head on over to the pile of balloons near the edges of the main plaza, and immediately, I notice only a few are actually inflated, and the rest still need to be. With a sigh and a huge breath in, I pick a flaccid balloon up with my teeth and start blowing air into it, but halfway through, I lose my grip and it sputters away, squealing and making loop-de-loops. Giggling, my brain hatches a plan, and I bark out my water cannons. "Awu! Awu! Water cannons!" I bark out another command to empty them of their water reserve, and now, I just have pumps full of air.

As I approach another balloon, this time with a grin and renewed vigor, this flat, deflated piece of rubber doesn't stand a chance against my new and improved air cannons. Pumping it full of air, I tie it to a table chair nearest to me. I do the same for the rest of the balloons. I stop for a moment once I'm finished and glance over at Chase, who, with his teeth, is placing the silverware on the table with Skye and Zuma. Sure, it's kinda gross but... the thing I find super cute about it, though, is that he nudges the utensils with his paw till they are perfectly aligned with one another. I give him a soft smile and head over to Ryder. "Oh, Ryyyyyder~ what else can I do to help?" I sing, sitting in front of the boy now.

"Hmmmm." Ryder scratches his chin. "You can probably help decorate the stage, since Rocky and Rubble are pretty much done assembling it now."

"Okay!" I walk up to the stage, and the Mayor is near the back, bent over and setting up some musical instruments and such. I dart my head back behind me to check on my Chasey again, and I see Rocky and Rubble helping out the rest of the pups with the tables alongside my favorite german shepherd. The mix breed and Zuma are close to one another, doing a set of silverware together, with Rocky giggling and such when the lab fails to align the utensil right. At first the lab didn't appreciate the mild teasing, but pretty soon, as he kept messing up, Zuma started to giggle and laugh as well. I smile at the sight; it's so nice to see the two getting along now, hopefully Rocky will be able to move on after all.

It doesn't take long to set up the stage with purple curtains, lights, musical instruments, mic, and so on. At last, it looks like our celebration is ready. The Mayor stands in the middle with all of us surrounding her as if she were about to tell a bedtime story. "Good work, Paw Patrol! Thank you so much! Now, I can start the celebration for all of you! You might as well stay, since it'll start soon, isn't that right, Chicaletta?"

The chicken darts its head left and right. "Bawk!"

We all laugh. Afterward, Mayor Goodway starts calling people over for the celebration. She makes a quick statement about how grateful Adventure Bay is to have the Paw Patrol around to help them. Oh, I look around while she's droning on and on, and I see Mayor Humdinger hanging back on a street post not too far from City Hall. He's got a scowl on his face. I squint my eyes at him and hold my glare, and after a few moments he notices, but he doesn't do anything. He better not try anything else, the man has nothing else up his sleeve I hope.

I'm awakened from my trance by rambunctious clapping drumming in my ears, and snapping my head toward the stage, I observe the Mayor calling all the pups up there. Without hesitation, I make my way to the stage, and stand next to Chase, because I wouldn't want it any other way. She makes her way down the row, calling each of our names and inserting a short description of our accomplishments and a quick thank you, and when she reaches me, I blush as she talks of my brave work climbing heights and healing people and animals alike with my medical expertise.

I listen to every word she says about Chase, his leadership, determination, work ethic, and so on... oh man, I admire my shepherd so much! He's really amazing. Glancing down the line, I notice Rocky and Zuma choosing to stand next to each other. Aw, that's cute. I'm really glad they're getting along a bit more now. Heheh, Zuma is really having difficulty staying mad at the mix at this point. Stifling a giggle, I turn my attention back to the speech the Mayor is giving, this is a really nice appreciation day for us. Makes me wonder... do they have anything else planned for us?

"And now, it's time for the parade!" the Mayor shouts to the crowd, which screams with cheers and applause in response. "But first... a quick word for Mayor Humdinger," she says his name with scorn. Glaring at the man donned in purple, she watches him leaning against the street post a bit of a ways away from the City Hall with his eyes wide, arms now uncrossing. Humdinger furrows his brows and shrugs with his arms bent and spread out to his sides.

"Yes, Mayor Humdinger, I see you back there, even Chicaletta could spot you from a mile away! Anyway, you owe Adventure Bay an apology! Come on up here."

Everybody's attention is on the villainous mayor, and I watch as he grumbles, stomping his way over to the stage with the crowd's piercing gaze eyeing his every movement. His heavy footsteps push against the small staircase up to the stage; I can hear it creak 'cause of his weight and potbelly, or maybe he's a drinker and that's a beer belly? I don't know for sure. Once he reaches the wooden podium, he grips hard on the edges of it, whitening his knuckles. I see his face: pursed lips, head hanging low, posture slightly slouched over.

He sighs and looks up at the audience. "I..." There's a long pause, and he takes this time to glance around, noticing all those judgmental stares. Gulping, he attempts to continue, "I... I... I-I... can't do this." He smirks, and the previous melancholic demeanor he held earlier disappears in a flash. "I'm the best mayor around, so why should I have to apologize for winning?"

Winning? I think to myself, furrowing my brows in confusion. _Winning? Really?_ That's preposterous; either he's talking about winning in a general sense in the past, or he really thinks he won this time...

"How dare you!" Chase steps up to the Mayor and pounds his paw into the hollow-centered-but-carpeted stage floor. It makes a loud _thunk!_ and startles a few of the members in the crowd. "You really think you've won?! You _obviously_ lost!" my shepherd is growling now, and while I admire him for making a stand, I can't say I'm in favor of his temper here.

"Pffft. Hahaha! Lost? My poor, poor, ex-prisoner, you must know that just because I lost one battle does not mean I'll lose them all!"

My blue eyes delve deep into the Mayor's, the fury building within me. "Excuse me, but you _have_ lost them all, with us, at least."

"Hrmph." The mayor scoffs and crosses his arms, averting his gaze with an abrupt head turn. "My kitties and I will take over Adventure Bay someday, and then you guys will be stuck with FoggyBottom! Mwahaha- Ow!" Humdinger flinches as I notice Chase chomping down on his pant leg. I giggle. Oddly enough, I want to join.

"That's for being an evil son of a-" Chase says through gritted teeth.

"Alriiiiight, that's enough of that," Mayor Goodway interjects Chase. "You pups have to be on your best-"

I lunge forward and bite down on Humdinger's other leg, and I listen as he screams and feel him writhing around in agony. Hearing the other pups laugh as I hang on for dear life, I feel another pup latch onto the leg I'm on, and then another, and then one on the other leg. Soon enough, all the pups are making Humdinger miserable, and it's a glorious time. All the turmoil he dragged us through, kidnapping Chase, making me worry, this is our payback alongside the other more respectable justice we gave him earlier. Mayor Goodway doesn't appreciate it though. I almost don't care, but I then remember that we're at our appreciation ceremony, and well... we're making fools of ourselves.

Needless to say, the guilt gets me off of Humdinger's leg, and soon after the other pups follow in my footsteps. "Ahem, anyway... clearly Mayor Humdinger doesn't have the gall to apologize. Well, then, I'll have to ask you to leave then."

The mayor rubs his legs and winces. "Gladly..." he replies with a grumble. He sulks and steps off stage, retreating back to the street post and rides away on his kitty carrier mobile.

"Now... onto the parade everyone!" The Mayor laughs with glee and raises her arms up in the air.

The pups and I look at each other with smiles. Us and the crowd head over to the street in front of the stage. Everybody aligns with the street edges as a float pulls up, decked out in our logo, with the Lookout as a center piece. The sides are draped with red curtains, and on two of them are each of our pup tag logos. We all clamber up to it and perch ourselves somewhere in the center, and then it moves, slowly, down the street with the crowd cheering us on. I can't help but have a giddy smile on my face; all my hard work... appreciated in such a fantastic manner... it makes me so happy~! Heheh, not as much as Chasey does, though~. Looking at the shepherd next to me, I nuzzle his neck, and he snaps out of his entranced stupor to glance at me with his tail wagging. He giggles. "Enjoying the show, Marshy?"

I lick my Chasey on the side of his muzzle. "Yes. Very much. My only complaint would be that a certain german shepherd keeps hogging all the spotlight." I chuckle and give him a sheepish smile.

He blushes. "Well... I wasn't expecting _that_ answer, but thanks Marshy, you're the best."

"You're welcome." I give him another smile and direct my attention back to the parade. We ride around the whole town, seeing familiar faces along the way: Jake and Everest; Carlos and Tracker; Mr. Porter and Alex; Cap'n Turbot and Francois; and finally, Al and Farmer Yumi. During the course of the parade, I watched all the pups, especially Rocky and Zuma. The lab has definitely been warming up to the idea of him and Rocky being together, since he didn't shy away when the mix breed nuzzled him or stood closer to him and such. I personally believe he has started to forgive him a bit and is finally loosening up to the possibility of them being together as mates. That makes me feel really relieved. Once the parade ends, the Mayor says a few last closing words, and then the ceremony is over. The pups and I take off in our vehicles back to the Lookout, with Ryder leading the pack.

When we arrive, it's relatively late in the afternoon, and all of us feel pretty pooped from all that appreciation and excitement. While the rest of the pups head off to relax in the Lookout lobby, Chase and I head up to the balcony to chill and chat. As we lean on the barred fence looping around the circular tower, our paws slightly hanging over, we stare out at the orange embrace the sun hugs the world with. It glosses over everything; the tower, us, our fur, the ground, quite literally, everything. It's beautiful. I look at my Chasey. He's definitely more beautiful than this sunset. No doubt. Nearing close to him, I give him a quick lick on the maw, and he giggles in response. "You're beautiful," I say, giving him direct eye contact.

There's a red hue beginning to flourish on his muzzle. "Thanks, Marshy. You know what tomorrow is right?" He smiles at me before returning the lick I gave him.

I nod several times in quick succession. "Yup, yup! I remember, but honestly... I don't want to wait till tomorrow. I want to be yours, today..." I put my paw on his own and try to keep eye contact with him, but this time, it's hard. I'm so embarrassed, I can feel my cheeks heating up.

"You... wanna be my mate now?" The shepherd can barely stop himself from grinning like a giddy pup who had just won the lottery.

"Yes, I can't wait anymore. Honestly, I've realized... that loving somebody can mean different things, and all this time, my love for you has grown from mere admiration, all the way up to adoration for every single fiber of your being, Chasey."

The shepherd is blushing mad now, and instead of replying, he leans in close and kisses me on the lips. I close my eyes and press in, delving deep into the ecstasy it provides. We break after a few moments. "Chasey... this is the best thing that's ever happened to me. We might've gone through a lot but... everything seems to be fitting into place, even with Rocky and Zuma."

"I agree. I'm glad everything seems to be okay now. Now let's hope Humdinger doesn't hatch another big scheme again for a while, right?" He chuckles.

I smile. "Right, it isn't going to matter anyway, either, because I'll have you. And with you... I can do anything. You've exposed me to so much... and I have to say, it's changed me for the better, and I'm really happy that everything happened the way it did. The positive and the negative."

Chase looks out into the sunset again. "Yeah, I know, it was hell for some of it, but we made it through, and it only made us stronger in the end, so really... it was well worth it." He turns toward me again. "You're worth everything to me, Marshall. I really mean that."

In this moment, I am the happiest dally in the world. I can't help but grin like an idiot, tears starting to well in my eyes. Happy ones, of course.

 _Same here, Chasey. Same here._

AN: Annnnnd, that's a wrap everyone! That's the end! Hoooo boooy! This was quite enjoyable to write for all of you, and I really hope it was a delightful read for you guys as well ^~^. I'll be working on an idea for another Paw Patrol story after this, so look forward for another story soon. I don't have an exact date of when it'll be ready, but it will come in the future, so look forward to it! Bye for now everyone, you guys are all so aweshum! Thank you so much for your support :333


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